Pennsylvania and the Potomac River Basin

Managing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in water resources requires a basin-scale approach. Predicted environmental concentrations (PEC) and stream-vulnerability scores for PFAS were determined for the Potomac River watershed in the eastern United States. Approximately 15% of stream reaches contained municipal and/or industrial wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) discharges...

Wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) discharges can be a source of organic contaminants, including pesticides, to rivers. An integrated model was developed for the Potomac River watershed (PRW) to determine the amount of accumulated wastewater percentage of streamflow (ACCWW) and calculate predicted environmental concentrations (PECs) for 14 pesticides in non-tidal National Hydrography...

A wastewater model was applied to the Potomac River watershed to provide (i) a means to identify streams with a high likelihood of carrying elevated effluent-derived contaminants and (ii) risk assessments to aquatic life and drinking water. The model linked effluent discharges along stream networks, accumulated wastewater, and predicted contaminant loads of municipal wastewater...

Smallmouth bass Micropterus dolomieu is an economically important sportfish and within the Chesapeake Bay watershed has experienced a high prevalence of external lesions, infectious disease, mortality events, reproductive endocrine disruption and population declines. To date, no clear or consistent associations with contaminants measured in fish tissue or surface water have been found...

Endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs), specifically estrogenic endocrine-disrupting compounds, vary in concentration and composition in surface waters under the influence of different landscape sources and landcover gradients. Estrogenic activity in surface waters may lead to adverse effects in aquatic species at both individual and population levels, often observed through the presence...

Water resources data for the 2004 water year for Pennsylvania consist of records of discharge and water quality of streams; contents and elevations of lakes and reservoirs; and water levels and water quality of ground-water wells. This report, Volume 2 contains (1) discharge records for 85 continuous-record streamflow-gaging stations, 13 partial-record stations, 18 special study and...

Volume II of the Ground-Water Quality and Data on Wells and Springs in Pennsylvania presents ground-water quality and physical data on about 1,400 wells and springs in the Susquehanna and Potomac River basins in Pennsylvania. Locations are shown on site-location maps derived from the hydrologic unit map. Codes showing the geologic age and aquifer are provided. (USGS)