Emerging Contaminants
Featured Study: Pharmaceuticals in Groundwater
There are few pharmaceuticals and hormones in groundwater used for drinking, finds a new USGS study. Groundwater in areas with fractured rocks most vulnerable to pharmaceutical contamination.
Learn MoreFeatured Study: Pharmaceuticals Common in Small Streams
Human-use pharmaceuticals are frequently present in many small streams, even those not receiving wastewater treatment plant discharges, reports a new study by the U.S. Geological Survey.
Learn MoreScience Center Objects
Emerging contaminants, or contaminants of emerging concern, can refer to many different kinds of chemicals, including medicines, personal care or household cleaning products, lawn care and agricultural products, among others. These chemicals make it into our Nation's lakes and rivers and have a detrimental affect on fish and other aquatic species. That have also been shown to bioaccumulate up the food web - putting even non-aquatic species at risk when they eat contaminated fish. The USGS monitors and assesses these dangerous chemicals from their source all the way through the food web.
BACKGROUND
Since the 1990s studies around the country have investigated how a wide range of chemical compounds, industrial pollutants, and human by-products have been making it into our Nation's waterways. Traditionally, most people were not overly concerned about this because the old mantra used to be "dilution is the solution to pollution" However, this is far from true. After the contaminants make it into the rivers and streams, tests show that there are measurable quantities of these contaminants within the water, itself, as well as in the under-water sediments, the nearby aquatic insects, migratory fish that eat the insects, and even predatory wildlife that consume all these different organisms.
“CONTAMINANTS OF EMERGING CONCERN”
USGS scientist measuring pharmaceutical concentrations in samples collected from the Rivers Foss and Ouse, United Kingdom (Credit: Stephen L. Werner)
Contaminants of emerging concern enter the environment every day. To understand where these chemicals come from, we just need to think about our modern lifestyle. People use chemical-based products each day. These chemicals remain in wastewater and beyond because treatment plants weren't designed to take out these chemicals. Similarly, industrial processes that have their own treatment processes don’t remove all these chemicals, either. Eventually, they end up in the Nation’s lakes and rivers. So these chemicals are getting into the environment and we're concerned about the effects they might be having on organisms, including humans. After all, different contaminants have been detected in drinking water supplies and their risk to our health is still uncertain.
RELATED USGS RESEARCH
USGS studies contaminants and pathogens in nature and provides the science necessary to help protect the health of people and the environment.
- Contaminants of Emerging Concern in the Environment
- What's in Our Wastewaters and Where Does it Go?
- Toxic Substances Hydrology Program
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
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Date published: September 26, 2018Status: ActiveCan There be Unintended Benefits when Wastewater Treatment Infrastructure is Upgraded?
Science from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and other entities has shown that a mixture of natural and synthetic estrogens and other similar chemicals are discharged from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) to streams and rivers.
USGS and University of Colorado hydrologists, chemists, geologists, and biologists studied the chemistry and biology of Boulder Creek downstream of Boulder ...
Contacts: Mike Focazio, Geoffrey Plumlee, Ph.D. -
Date published: September 11, 2018Passive Sampling Using SPMDs and POCIS
The application of passive sampling technologies for the monitoring of legacy and emerging organic chemicals in the environment is becoming widely accepted worldwide.
Contacts: David Alvarez, Ph.D.Attribution: Columbia Environmental Research Center -
Date published: July 5, 2018Status: ActiveEmerging Contaminants and their Effects on Fish and Frogs
The endocrine system in animals produce hormones to regulate essential life processes, such as metabolism, tissue function, reproduction, and development. A large group of natural and synthetic chemicals are known to disrupt endocrine function. Examples include plant hormones, plastic components, flame retardants, surfactants, fragrances, pesticides, etc. Endocrine disrupting chemicals, or...
Contacts: Kelly Smalling -
Date published: August 30, 2016Aquatic Ecology and Contaminants
The Aquatic Ecology and Contaminants Team investigates critical ecological processes operating in aquatic and riparian ecosystems and how these processes are affected by human activities. We address questions through a combination of field studies, laboratory experiments, and modeling, while working at multiple levels of biological organization from cells through ecosystems. Topics include...
Attribution: Fort Collins Science Center -
Date published: July 14, 2016Status: ActiveEvaluating Contaminants of Emerging Concern
Scientists are assessing the impacts of contaminants of emerging concern on Great Lakes fish, wildlife, and water quality by collecting and analyzing samples from tributaries to the Great Lakes.
Multi-region assessment of pharmaceutical exposures and predicted effects in USA wadeable urban-gradient streams
Human-use pharmaceuticals in urban streams link aquatic-ecosystem health to human health. Pharmaceutical mixtures have been widely reported in larger streams due to historical emphasis on wastewater-treatment plant (WWTP) sources, with limited investigation of pharmaceutical exposures and potential effects in smaller headwater streams. In 2014–...
Bradley, Paul; Journey, Celeste A.; Button, Daniel T.; Carlisle, Daren M.; Huffman, B.J.; Qi, Sharon L.; Romanok, Kristin; Van Metre, Peter C. Cyanotoxin occurrence in large rivers of the United States
Cyanotoxins occur in rivers worldwide but are understudied in lotic ecosystems relative to lakes and reservoirs. Eleven large river sites located throughout the United States were sampled during June–September 2017 to determine the occurrence of cyanobacteria with known cyanotoxin-producing strains, cyanotoxin synthetase genes, and cyanotoxins....
Graham, Jennifer L.; Dubrovsky, Neil; Foster, Guy; Lindsey R. King; Loftin, Keith; Rosen, Barry; Stelzer, Erin Hormones and pharmaceuticals in groundwater used as a source of drinking water across the United States
This is the first large-scale, systematic assessment of hormone and pharmaceutical occurrence in groundwater used for drinking across the United States. Samples from 1091 sites in Principal Aquifers representing 60% of the volume pumped for drinking-water supply had final data for 21 hormones and 103 pharmaceuticals. At least one compound was...
Bexfield, Laura M.; Toccalino, Patricia; Belitz, Kenneth; Foreman, William T.; Furlong, Edward Mixed-chemical exposure and predicted effects potential in wadeable southeastern USA streams
Complex chemical mixtures have been widely reported in larger streams but relatively little work has been done to characterize them and assess their potential effects in headwaterstreams. In 2014, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) sampled 54 Piedmont streams over ten weeks and measured 475 unique organic compounds...
Bradley, Paul M.; Journey, Celeste A.; Berninger, Jason P.; Button, Daniel T.; Clark, Jimmy M.; Corsi, Steven R.; DeCicco, Laura A.; Hopkins, Kristina G.; Huffman, Bradley J.; Nakagaki, Naomi; Norman, Julia E.; Nowell, Lisa H.; Qi, Sharon L.; Van Metre, Peter C.; Waite, Ian R.
Wastewater indicators, hormones, sterols, antibiotics, and pharmaceuticals in soil at an agricultural field irrigated with domestic septage, central Minnesota, September 2014
Treated domestic septage can be used to irrigate agricultural fields as a disposal method or as a means to reuse water. Because traditional on-site treatment systems are not designed to remove wastewater indicators, hormones, sterols, antibiotics, and pharmaceuticals, land application of septage potentially results in soil contamination. Soils...
Elliott, Sarah M.; Erickson, Melinda L.; Krall, Aliesha L.; Adams, Byron A. Modeled de facto reuse and contaminants of emerging concern in drinking water source waters
De facto reuse is the percentage of drinking water treatment plant (DWTP) intake potentially composed of effluent discharged from upstream wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Results from grab samples and a De Facto Reuse in our Nation's Consumable Supply (DRINCS) geospatial watershed model were used to quantify contaminants of emerging concern (...
Nguyen, Thuy; Westerhoff, Paul; Furlong, Edward T.; Kolpin, Dana W.; Batt, Angela L.; Mash, Heath E.; Schenck, Kathleen M.; Boone, J. Scott; Rice, Jacelyn; Glassmeyer, Susan T. Uptake and disposition of select pharmaceuticals by bluegill exposed at constant concentrations in a flow-through aquatic exposure system
The increasing use of pharmaceuticals has led to their subsequent input into and release from wastewater treatment plants, with corresponding discharge into surface waters that may subsequently exert adverse effects upon aquatic organisms. Although the distribution of pharmaceuticals in surface water has been extensively studied, the details of...
Zhao, Jian-Liang; Furlong, Edward T.; Schoenfuss, Heiko L.; Kolpin, Dana W.; Bird, Kyle L.; Feifarek, David J.; Schwab, Eric A.; Ying, Guang-Guo
Organic waste compounds as contaminants in Milwaukee-area streams
Organic waste compounds (OWCs) are ingredients and by-products of common agricultural, industrial, and household substances that can contaminate our streams through sources like urban runoff, sewage overflows, and leaking septic systems. To better understand how OWCs are affecting Milwaukee-area streams, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation...
Baldwin, Austin K.; Corsi, Steven R.; Magruder, Christopher; Magruder, Matthew; Bruce, Jennifer L. Transgenerational effects from early developmental exposures to bisphenol A or 17α-ethinylestradiol in medaka, Oryzias latipes
The transgenerational consequences of environmental contaminant exposures of aquatic vertebrates have the potential for broad ecological impacts, yet are largely uninvestigated. Bisphenol A (BPA) and 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2) are two ubiquitous estrogenic chemicals present in aquatic environments throughout the United States and many other...
Bhandari, Ramji K.; vom Saal, Frederick S.; Tillitt, Donald E. Urban contribution of pharmaceuticals and other organic wastewater contaminants to streams during differing flow conditions
During 2001, 76 water samples were collected upstream and downstream of select towns and cities in Iowa during high-, normal- and low-flow conditions to determine the contribution of urban centers to concentrations of pharmaceuticals and other organic wastewater contaminants (OWCs) in streams under varying flow conditions. The towns ranged in...
Kolpin, D.W.; Skopec, M.; Meyer, M.T.; Furlong, E.T.; Zaugg, S.D.
Pharmaceuticals, hormones, and other organic wastewater contaminants in U.S. streams
A recent study by the Toxic Substances Hydrology Program of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) shows that a broad range of chemicals found in residential, industrial, and agricultural wastewaters commonly occurs in mixtures at low concentrations downstream from areas of intense urbanization and animal production. The chemicals include human and...
Buxton, Herbert T.; Kolpin, Dana W. Pharmaceuticals, hormones, and other organic wastewater contaminants in U.S. streams, 1999-2000: A national reconnaissance
To provide the first nationwide reconnaissance of the occurrence of pharmaceuticals, hormones, and other organic wastewater contaminants (OWCs) in water resources, the U.S. Geological Survey used five newly developed analytical methods to measure concentrations of 95 OWCs in water samples from a network of 139 streams across 30 states during 1999...
Kolpin, D.W.; Furlong, E.T.; Meyer, M.T.; Thurman, E.M.; Zaugg, S.D.; Barber, L.B.; Buxton, H.T.-
Date published: January 14, 2020Concentrations of Pharmaceutical Contaminants and Their Predicted Effects from a Multi-Regional Assessment of Wadeable USA Streams, 2014-2017
Human-use pharmaceutical compounds were analyzed at the U.S. Geological Survey, National Water Quality Laboratory, Denver, Colorado, in wadeable streams in 4 Regional Stream Quality Assessments: Northeast (NESQA), Southeast (SESQA), Pacific Northwest (PNSQA) and California (CSQA). Multiple (with few exceptions) samplings occurred at each site, during base flow%
Attribution: South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC) -
Date published: January 1, 2019
Third-party performance assessment data encompassing the time period of analysis of groundwater samples collected for hormones and pharmaceuticals by the National Water-Quality Assessment Project in 2013-15
This data set includes sample information and results for third-party performance assessment samples analyzed for hormones and pharmaceuticals during the same general time period as environmental samples collected by the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Project for a study of groundwater resources used for drinking-water supply across the United States, 2013 through 2015. Hormone a...
Attribution: National Water Quality Program -
Date published: January 1, 2019
Environmental and Quality-Control Data Collected by the USGS National Water-Quality Assessment Project for Hormones and Pharmaceuticals in Groundwater Used as a Source of Drinking Water Across the United States, 2013-15
This data set includes results for hormone and pharmaceutical compounds analyzed in environmental and quality-control samples collected by the USGS National Water-Quality Assessment Project during 2013 through 2015 for a study of groundwater resources used for drinking-water supply across the United States. This data release includes: Table 1. Site information and ancillary data (including...
Attribution: National Water Quality Program -
Date published: January 1, 2019
Laboratory Quality-Control Data Associated with Groundwater Samples Collected for Hormones and Pharmaceuticals by the National Water-Quality Assessment Project in 2013-15
This data set includes results for hormone and pharmaceutical compounds analyzed from 2012 through 2016 in laboratory quality-control samples that are associated with environmental samples collected by the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Project during 2013 through 2015 for a study of groundwater resources used for drinking-water supply across the United States. Hormone and pharmace...
Attribution: National Water Quality Program
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Date published: March 12, 2018Groundwater Software: MODFLOW and Related Programs
MODFLOW is the USGS's modular hydrologic model. MODFLOW is considered an international standard for simulating and predicting groundwater conditions and groundwater/surface-water interactions. Click to learn more.
Attribution: Water Resources -
Date published: January 25, 2018
SPARROW modeling: Estimating contaminant transport
What’s New: A new version of the SPARROW code is being developed in the R programming language. The advantage of R is that it is non-proprietary and does not require a license or software cost. The R – SPARROW code is now being completed and should be available early in CY18. Stay Tuned.
Attribution: Oregon Water Science Center
Emerging Contaminants
Today on the USGS CoreCast we explore what impact emerging contaminants have on the health and development of aquatic wildlife. We traveled to the Pacific Northwest to talk with a multidisciplinary research team of USGS scientists about an ongoing study that characterizes the contaminants and habitats for a number of aquatic species along the lower Columbia River.
Emerging Contaminants, Pharmaceuticals in S. Carolina Rivers & Streams
USGS South Carolina Water Science Center Research Ecologist Dr. Paul Bradley discusses USGS Toxic Substances Research on emerging contaminants in rivers and streams.
Pharmaceuticals in Urban Streams in Northwest Oregon
Coinciding with the release of the USGS report ‘Reconnaissance of Pharmaceutical Chemicals in Urban Streams of the Tualatin River Basin, Oregon, 2002,’ we sit down and discuss recent findings with USGS hydrologist Stewart Rounds. Find out how everyday drugs, such as caffeine, ibuprofen, acetaminophen, and codeine, have made it into our streams, how well they are removed
Pharmaceuticals in the Nation's Water
The Senate is holding a hearing on pharmaceuticals in water, and the USGS is supplying information. Herb Buxton, USGS Toxic Substances Hydrology Program Coordinator, fills us in on related research and findings.
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Date published: February 12, 2018Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products Measured in Water and Suspended Solids in the Columbia River Estuary
Scientists Present on "Emerging Contaminants in Coastal and Marine Ecosystems" at the 2018 Ocean Sciences Meeting
Attribution: Oregon Water Science Center -
Date published: May 25, 2016Pharmaceuticals Commonly Detected in Small Streams in the Southeastern United States
At least one pharmaceutical chemical was detected in all 59 streams sampled
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Date published: November 13, 2015
Understanding how Pharmaceuticals in the Environment Affect Fish
Fish health may be affected by pharmaceuticals in treated wastewater released into streams and other water bodies, according to a recent laboratory and field study by the Aquatic Toxicology Laboratory at St. Cloud State University and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
Attribution: Environmental Health, Toxic Substances Hydrology Program -
Date published: November 12, 2015Storage and Treatment of Liquid Waste from Landfills Doesn’t Remove All Contaminants, Including Pharmaceuticals
New research from the U.S. Geological Survey details that even after the storage and/or treatment of leachate – liquid waste that moves through or drains from a landfill − it can still contain a multitude of chemicals and reflects the diverse nature of residential, industrial, and commercial waste discarded into landfills in the United States.
Attribution: Environmental Health -
Date published: June 4, 2010
Manufacturing Facilities Release Pharmaceuticals to the Environment
Pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities can be a significant source of pharmaceuticals to surface waters, according to a new study by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducted in cooperation with the State of New York.
Attribution: -
Date published: December 2, 2008
Traces of Pharmaceuticals and Household Chemicals Found in Northeast Ohio Streams
That morning cup of coffee, the medicines we take, the soaps and shampoos we use, household cleaners, pesticides and a host of chemicals.... What do they have in common? They all eventually end up in the environment.
Attribution: Region 3: Great Lakes -
Date published: June 25, 2007
Scientists, Policy-makers to Tackle Emerging Contaminants
An increasing number of reports are being published regarding the environmental occurrence of trace organic compounds such as pharmaceutical residues, personal care products, and hormones, and their potential adverse effects on aquatic and terrestrial life and human health.