Does bleach and washing up liquid that goes down the drain\toilet damage environment?

Worztron wrote: »

Does bleach and washing up liquid that goes down the drain\toilet damage the environment?

It's all a question of concentrations. Generally speaking, they are both relatively harmless. Sodium hypochlorite is the principle component in most bleach products and it is highly volatile, meaning that it reacts readily with other substances. Hence, once it makes it's way into an aquatic environment, it is broken down very quickly. The only danger really is if large quantities of bleach were being dumped into a small pond, say.

As for detergents, they linger around for a little longer and treated sewage sludge that gets spread on land has been shown to contain relatively high levels of detergent residues (or "surfactants", the main ingredient in domestic detergents, short for "surface active agents"). However, there is no evidence that this poses any danger to flora/fauna and the surfactants will decompose in an aerobic environment over a period of days or possibly weeks. Remember, washing-up liquid is present in far higher concentrations in your wash basin when you're cleaning your dishes and it won't do your hands any harm *.

* This post has not been endorsed by any manufacturers of a mild, green liquid.

mildly ot, but ive read some research that girls on the pill are damaging the environment.
apparently some of the progesterone passes in urine and makes it into the water system which eventually has all sorts of funny effects on wildlife