The Pacific Ocean Is Polluted With Coffee

An anonymous reader writes in with this excerpt from Inhabitat:"People aren't the only ones getting a jolt from caffeine these days; in a new study published in Marine Pollution Bulletin, scientists found elevated concentrations of caffeine in the Pacific Ocean in areas off the coast of Oregon. With all those coffee drinkers in the Pacific Northwest, it should be no surprise that human waste containing caffeine would ultimately make its way through municipal water systems and out to sea – but how will the presence of caffeine in our oceans affect human health and natural ecosystems?"

Comments

Re:Amounts

[jkflying]

The paper lists the North Sea as having between 2 and 16 ng/L. Mediterranean was below 5, Hawaii below 10. Guanabara Bay (Rio) was between 137 and 147. Halifax, Pictou, and Cocagne watersheds (Canada) was between 0 and 1400. Jamaica Bay, NY ranged from 0 - 5000 ng/L. So this is actually pretty low compared to what has been measured in other places, but obviously higher than than plain, untouched seawater.

Re:Amounts

[jkflying]

Hey, I'm just quoting the paper. These amounts are referenced from other papers, which may have been using different techniques for measuring the concentrations.
Here's the North Sea one: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0021967301005295
Here's the Mediterranean: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es020125z
Here's Hawaii: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X10001839

Re:How come the water don't smell like coffee?

[TheRaven64]

Tea contains tanin, which blocks the absorption of caffeine. This typically means that you get an immediate caffeine kick from coffee, which then wears off, while tea gives you a slower release of a smaller amount over a period of a few hours. Add to that, after regular consumption you build up a tolerance for caffeine and so won't experience any effects (other than withdrawal if you stop having any), but if you regularly drink tea then you won't be used to the sudden jump in caffeine levels. Oh, and much of the effect of caffeine is psychological. A study a few years ago found that people who unknowingly drink decaf also exhibit the symptoms that they expect from coffee, right up until the point that withdrawal kicks in (and, in some people, the withdrawal is so mild that they don't notice).