Dana W Kolpin
Biography
Dana received his B.S. from Iowa State University and his M.S. from the University of Iowa (both in geology). Dana started his career with the USGS in 1986. His research interests include the fate, transport, and effects of environmental contaminants (e.g. pesticides, human and veterinary pharmaceuticals, hormones, etc.) in the environment. He was the project lead of the USGS Toxic Program’s CECs in the Environment Project (https://toxics.usgs.gov/investigations/cec/) for its entire history (1998 – 2017). He now project lead of the USGS Toxic Program’s newly formed Food Project (i.e. understanding the potential for health risks from contaminant exposures associated with production, manufacturing, use, and consumption of food, beverage, and feedstock products: https://www2.usgs.gov/envirohealth/science_teams/food/index.php). He has published over 200 papers and reports on environmental contaminants. His paper "Pharmaceuticals, hormones, and other organic wastewater contaminants in U.S. streams, 1999-2000: A national reconnaissance" was a seminal paper on the occurrence of CECs in water resources, and was the first national-scale study of such compounds conducted in the United States. This paper has become the most heavily cited paper in Environmental Science & Technology history. He has published a diverse array of papers on the topic of environmental contaminants including research on CECs in landfills, changes in stream water chemistry and hydrology related to the closure of a wastewater treatment plant, detection of swine hepatitis E virus in streams, the transport of neonicotinoid insecticides in streams, the uptake of CECs into earthworms and into fish neural tissue, the occurrence of natural toxins (i.e. phytoestrogens and mycotoxins) in streams, and the first ever documentation of the off-field transport on nitrapyrin and herbicide safeners to streams. His most recent research interests include linking tap water quality to human health end points, investigating PFAS exposures in rural settings, determining the prevalence of antibiotic resistance genes in the environment, and understanding chemical and microbial contaminants being discharged into the environment by food and feedstock processing plants.
Science and Products
Estimating virus occurrence using Bayesian modeling in multiple drinking water systems of the United States
Drinking water treatment plants rely on purification of contaminated source waters to provide communities with potable water. One group of possible contaminants are enteric viruses. Measurement of viral quantities in environmental water systems are often performed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or quantitative PCR (qPCR). However, true...
Varughese, Eunice A.; Brinkman, Nichole E; Anneken, Emily M; Cashdollar, Jennifer S; Fout, G. Shay; Furlong, Edward T.; Kolpin, Dana W.; Glassmeyer, Susan T.; Keely, Scott P Investigating the influence of nitrate nitrogen on post-smolt Atlantic salmon Salmo salar reproductive physiology in water recirculation aquaculture systems
A major issue affecting land-based, closed containment Atlantic salmon Salmo salar growout production in water recirculation aquaculture systems (RAS) is precocious male maturation, which can negatively impact factors such as feed conversion, fillet yield, and product quality. Along with other water quality parameters, elevated ...
Good, Christopher; Davidson, John; Iwanowicz, Luke R.; Meyer, Michael T.; Dietze, Julie E.; Kolpin, Dana W.; Marancik, David; Birkett, Jill; Williams, Christina; Summerfelt, Steven T. Are exposure predictions, used for the prioritization of pharmaceuticals in the environment, fit for purpose?
Prioritization methodologies are often used for identifying those pharmaceuticals that pose the greatest risk to the natural environment and to focus laboratory testing or environmental monitoring toward pharmaceuticals of greatest concern. Risk-based prioritization approaches, employing models to derive exposure concentrations, are commonly used...
Burns, Emily E.; Thomas-Oates, Jane; Kolpin, Dana W.; Furlong, Edward T.; Boxall, Alistair B.A. 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 Highlighting the complexities of a groundwater pilot study during an avian influenza outbreak: Methods, lessons learned, and select contaminant results
The highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N2) outbreak in the Midwestern United States (US) in 2015 was historic due to the number of birds and poultry operations impacted and the corresponding economic loss to the poultry industry and was the largest animal health emergency in US history. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), with the assistance of...
Hubbard, Laura E.; Kolpin, Dana W.; Fields, Chad L. ; Hladik, Michelle L.; Iwanowicz, Luke R. Avian influenza virus RNA in groundwater wells supplying poultry farms affected by the 2015 influenza outbreak
During the 2015 outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAI) on poultry farms in the midwestern United States, concern was raised about the potential for HPAI to contaminate groundwater. Our study objective was to evaluate the occurrence of HPAI in the groundwater supply wells on 13 outbreak-affected poultry farms in Iowa and...
Borchardt, Mark A.; Spencer, Susan K.; Hubbard, Laura E.; Firnstahl, Aaron; Stokdyk, Joel P.; Kolpin, Dana W. Expanded target-chemical analysis reveals extensive mixed-organic-contaminant exposure in USA streams
Surface water from 38 streams nationwide was assessed using 14 target-organic methods (719 compounds). Designed-bioactive anthropogenic contaminants (biocides, pharmaceuticals) comprised 57% of 406 organics detected at least once. The 10 most-frequently detected anthropogenic-organics included eight pesticides (desulfinylfipronil, AMPA,...
Bradley, Paul M.; Journey, Celeste A.; Romanok, Kristin M.; Barber, Larry B.; Buxton, Herbert T.; Foreman, William T.; Furlong, Edward T.; Glassmeyer, Susan T.; Hladik, Michelle L.; Iwanowicz, Luke R. ; Jones, Daniel K.; Kolpin, Dana W.; Kuivila, Kathryn M. ; Loftin, Keith A.; Mills, Marc A.; Meyer, Michael T.; Orlando, James L. ; Reilly, Timothy J.; Smalling, Kelly L. ; Villeneuve, Daniel L. Occurrence of neonicotinoid insecticides in finished drinking water and fate during drinking water treatment
Neonicotinoid insecticides are widespread in surface waters across the agriculturally-intensive Midwestern US. We report for the first time the presence of three neonicotinoids in finished drinking water and demonstrate their general persistence during conventional water treatment. Periodic tap water grab samples were collected at the University...
Klarich, Kathryn L.; Pflug, Nicholas C.; DeWald, Eden M.; Hladik, Michelle L.; Kolpin, Dana W.; Cwiertny, David M.; LeFevre, Gergory H. Neonicotinoid insecticide removal by prairie strips in row-cropped watersheds with historical seed coating use
Neonicotinoids are a widely used class of insecticides that are commonly applied as seed coatings for agricultural crops. Such neonicotinoid use may pose a risk to non-target insects, including pollinators and natural enemies of crop pests, and ecosystems. This study assessed neonicotinoid residues in groundwater, surface runoff water, soil, and...
Hladik, Michelle L.; Bradbury, Steven; Schulte, Lisa A.; Helmers, Matthew; Witte, Christopher; Kolpin, Dana W.; Garrett, Jessica D.; Harris, Mary Occurrence, temporal variation, and estrogenic burden of five parabens in sewage sludge collected across the United States
Five parabens used as preservatives in pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) were measured in sewage sludges collected at 14 U.S. wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) located in nine states. Detected concentration ranges (ng/g, dry weight) and frequencies were as follows: methyl paraben (15.9 to 203.0; 100...
Chen, Jing; Pycke, Benny F. G.; Brownawell, Bruce J.; Kinney, Chad A.; Furlong, Edward T.; Kolpin, Dana W.; Halden, Rolf U.
Methods used to characterize the chemical composition and biological activity of environmental waters throughout the United States, 2012-14
A vast array of chemical compounds are in wide commercial use in the United States, and the potential ecological and human-health effect of exposure to chemical mixtures has been identified as a high priority in environment health science. Awareness of the potential effects of low-level chemical exposures is rising. The U.S. Geological Survey, in...
Romanok, Kristin M. ; Reilly, Timothy J.; Barber, Larry B.; Boone, J. Scott; Buxton, Herbert T.; Foreman, William T. ; Furlong, Edward T.; Hladik, Michelle; Iwanowicz, Luke R. ; Journey, Celeste A.; Kolpin, Dana W.; Kuivila, Kathryn ; Loftin, Keith A.; Mills, Marc A.; Meyer, Michael T.; Orlando, James L. ; Smalling, Kelly L. ; Villeneuve, Daniel L.; Bradley, Paul M. Nationwide reconnaissance of contaminants of emerging concern in source and treated drinking waters of the United States
When chemical or microbial contaminants are assessed for potential effect or possible regulation in ambient and drinking waters, a critical first step is determining if the contaminants occur and if they are at concentrations that may cause human or ecological health concerns. To this end, source and treated drinking water samples from 29 drinking...
Glassmeyer, Susan T.; Furlong, Edward T.; Kolpin, Dana W.; Batt, Angela L.; Benson, Robert; Boone, J. Scott; Conerly, Octavia D.; Donohue, Maura J.; King, Dawn N.; Kostich, Mitchell S.; Mash, Heath E.; Pfaller, Stacy; Schenck, Kathleen M.; Simmons, Jane Ellen; Varughese, Eunice A.; Vesper, Stephen J.; Villegas, Eric N.; Wilson, Vickie S.