News release: “Finding caffeine in waters just off a coastline heavy with coffee shops may not be surprising. What a new NOAA-funded study does reveal is that traces of caffeine in Pacific Northwest waters point to a likely source of the stimulant: septic tanks and sewer overflows. Results of the study, funded in part by Oregon Sea Grant and NOAA, were published in the July 2012 Marine Pollution Bulletin. The study was conducted by scientists at Portland State University and Washington State University, Vancouver. This research, the first to look at caffeine contamination off the Oregon coast, found elevated levels of caffeine at several sites in Pacific Ocean waters off the coast of Oregon—though not necessarily where researchers expected.”