Drinking Water

About the Research The Geospatial Analyses and Applications Core Technology Team (CTT) as part of the Environmental Health Program collaborates with teams across USGS to develop and apply geospatial analytical methods to answer broad-scale questions about source-sink and cause-effect relationships between contaminants and vulnerable communities.

The team studies toxicants and pathogens in water resources from their sources, through watersheds, aquifers, and infrastructure to human and wildlife exposures. That information is used to develop decision tools that protect human and wildlife health.

A new interactive dashboard is available to visualize PFAS measurements for 716 tap water samples collected at select sites across the nation between 2016 and 2021 from private and public supplies.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) uptake and bioconcentration by fish and mussels ─ housed in mobile laboratories at a legacy fire-training area contaminated by aqueous film-forming foams ─ varied by species, sex, and compound. PFAS in passive samplers deployed at the same time mimicked uptake by fish but not mussels indicating that passive samplers might prove useful as screening tools...

U.S. Geological Survey researchers and public health experts collaborated to determine what contaminants occur in bottled water, which is an increasingly common alternate drinking water source, to broaden their understanding of human exposure to contaminants in drinking water supply chains. Bottled water, like public-supply and private-well tap water supply chains, contained multiple organic...

USGS recently (2022) released a strategic vision document that identifies science gaps and opportunities for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) monitoring, assessment, and research activities (sampling protocols and analytical methods, environmental sources and source apportionment, environmental occurrence, environmental fate and transport, human and wildlife exposure routes...

A National-scale approach is used to examine and analyze per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) prevalence and magnitude in watersheds and aquifers. As an initial step to fill known science gaps in the understanding of human and wildlife exposure, the team will provide a snapshot of PFAS in drinking water paired with bioaccumulation in fish and wildlife near known or suspected sources of...

Environmental Health Program scientists, in collaboration with other USGS scientists, are developing complementary field and laboratory methods and capabilities to detect and quantify a range of target and nontarget per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and indicator compounds at low levels (parts per trillion) in a variety of environmental matrices. The PFAS Integrated Science Team is...

Scientists measured nine naturally occurring elements including uranium at 37 spring sites in the Grand Canyon area to establish baseline conditions and to understand the sources of uranium to local springs. Scientists found relatively greater concentrations of uranium at 6 of the 37 springs. A comprehensive geochemical analysis coupled with an understanding of the flow patterns in the area...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in collaboration with National Institutes of Health, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and academia, completed a pilot study to provide information on contaminant exposure from tap water at 26 locations including public and private supplies. Public-supply tap water generally met enforceable standards for those compounds with standards. Samples consisted of...

More than thirty years after an oil spill, hydrocarbons measured in groundwater near Bemidji, Minnesota, have been depleted between 25 and 85 percent. However, some components have remained for many decades and some are expected to remain longer indicating that natural attenuation is an effective but slow process. Compounds that are sufficiently soluble and resistant to biodegradation provide a...

Waterborne viruses, one of the leading causes of gastrointestinal illnesses, were measured in United States drinking water sources and finished water. Scientists used a combination of measurement and statistical techniques to overcome limitations to quantifying these viruses, thus offering an enhanced method for virus monitoring.