Paul M Bradley
Science and Products
Inorganic and Organic Chemical Mixtures Detected in both Public and Private Tap Water in Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Multiple detections of regulated and unregulated chemical (inorganic, organic) analytes or elements were detected in both privately and publicly supplied tap water samples from 20 residences in Cape Cod, Massachusetts that share a common source of water.
Nationwide Occurrence
A National-scale approach is used to examine and analyze per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) prevalence and magnitude in watersheds and aquifers. As an initial step to fill known science gaps in the understanding of human and 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...
Per/polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in Residential Tap Water: Source-to-Tap Science for Underserved Communities
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) were detected at low levels in treated drinking water samples from residential taps in the Greater Chicago Area. This study is part of a larger approach to provide an understanding of contaminant mixtures in residential tap water across the Nation including underserved communities in rural, urban, and tribal areas.
Environmental Health Program Drinking Water Science
Drinking water in the United States rarely is tested for contaminants and pathogens at the tap, where human exposure can occur. In this special issue, we present the science to help understand contaminants and pathogens in drinking water at business and residential taps.
Mixtures of Organic and Inorganic Chemicals Characterized in Water from the Taps of Residences in the Greater Chicago Area— Science to Understand Contaminant Exposures in Drinking Water
As a component of ongoing research with a coalition of partners, including the U.S. Geological Survey U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Colorado School of Mines, University of Illinois Chicago, and University of South Carolina, water was collected from the taps of 45 Chicago-area residences and analyzed for 540 organic and 35...
Ongoing Research to Characterize the Complexity of Chemical Mixtures in Water Resources—Urban Stormwater
A multiagency reconnaissance study of chemicals in urban stormwater, sampled from pipes or ditches during 50 runoff events at 21 sites in 17 states across the United States, demonstrated that stormwater runoff contains complex mixtures of chemicals including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals that are indicative of multiple sources in the watershed.
Pilot Study Provides Information on Contaminant Exposure from Tap Water at Residential and Workplace Sites in the United States
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...
Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Science Team
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.
Sources of Contaminants to Congaree National Park—USGS and National Park Service Working Together
A National Park Service (NPS) and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) study determined the concentrations, potential for degradation, and potential for aquatic and terrestrial animal exposure to organic contaminants in water and sediment within the flood-plain/aquatic environments of Congaree National Park which is located downstream from urban and agricultural areas.
Study Highlights the Complexity of Chemical Mixtures in United States Streams
A new study highlights the complexity of chemical mixtures in streams and advances the understanding of wildlife and human exposure to complex chemical mixtures.
Recovery of Stream and Adjacent Groundwater After Wastewater Treatment Facility Closure
The hydrology and chemistry of a wastewater-impacted stream and adjacent groundwater responded rapidly (had fewer chemicals at lower concentrations) following wastewater treatment facility shutdown. However, the adjacent shallow groundwater remained a continuing source of some wastewater-derived contaminants to the stream at least 1 year post-shutdown.
U.S. Geological Survey Scientists Complete First Systematic Regional Survey of Algal Toxins in Streams of the Southeastern United States
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists detected microcystin—an algal toxin—in 39 percent of 75 streams assessed in the southeastern United States. These results will inform and become part of a larger, systematic national survey of algal toxins in small streams of the United States.
Is there an urban pesticide signature? Urban streams in five U.S. regions share common dissolved-phase pesticides but differ in predicted aquatic toxicity
Pesticides occur in urban streams globally, but the relation of occurrence to urbanization can be obscured by regional differences. In studies of five regions of the United States, we investigated the effect of region and urbanization on the occurrence and potential toxicity of dissolved pesticide mixtures. We analyzed 225 pesticide compounds in...
Nowell, Lisa H.; Moran, Patrick W.; Bexfield, Laura M.; Mahler, Barbara; Van Metre, Peter C.; Bradley, Paul; Schmidt, Travis S.; Button, Daniel T.; Qi, Sharon L. Untargeted lipidomics for determining cellular and sub-cellular responses in Zebrafish (Danio rerio) liver cells following exposure to complex mixtures in U.S. streams
Surface waters often contain a variety of chemical contaminants potentially capable of producing adverse outcomes in both humans and wildlife due to impacts from industrial, urban, and agricultural activity. Here, we report the results of a zebrafish liver (ZFL) cell-based lipidomics approach to assess the potential ecotoxicological effects of...
Zhen, Huajun; Teng, Quincy; Mosley, Jonathan D; Collette, Timothy W.; Yue, Yang; Bradley, Paul; Ekman, Drew R. Pilot-scale expanded assessment of inorganic and organic tapwater exposures and predicted effects in Puerto Rico, USA
A pilot-scale expanded target assessment of mixtures of inorganic and organic contaminants in point-of-consumption drinking water (tapwater, TW) was conducted in Puerto Rico (PR) to continue to inform TW exposures and corresponding estimations of cumulative human-health risks across the US. In August 2018, a spatial synoptic pilot assessment of...
Bradley, Paul; Padilla, Ingrid Y.; Romanok, Kristin; Smalling, Kelly; Focazio, Michael J.; Breitmeyer, Sara; Cardon, Mary C.; Conley, Justin M.; Evans, Nicola; Givens, Carrie E; Gray, James L.; Gray, L. Earl; Hartig, Phillip C.; Hladik, Michelle; Higgins, Christopher P.; Iwanowicz, Luke R.; Lane, Rachael; Loftin, Keith; McCleskey, R. Blaine; McDonough, Carrie A.; Medlock-Kakaley, Elizabeth; Meppelink, Shannon M.; Weis, Christopher P.; Wilson, Vickie S. Reconnaissance of cumulative risk of pesticides and pharmaceuticals in Great Smoky Mountains National Park streams
The United States (US) National Park Service (NPS) manages protected public lands to preserve biodiversity. Exposure to and effects of bioactive organic contaminants in NPS streams are challenges for resource managers. Recent assessment of pesticides and pharmaceuticals in protected-streams within the urbanized NPS Southeast Region (SER) indicated...
Bradley, Paul; Kulp, Matt A.; Huffman, Bradley J.; Romanok, Kristin; Smalling, Kelly; Breitmeyer, Sara; Clark, Jimmy; Journey, Celeste A. Public and private tapwater: Comparative analysis of contaminant exposure and potential risk, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA
BackgroundHumans are primary drivers of environmental contamination worldwide, including in drinking-water resources. In the United States (US), federal and state agencies regulate and monitor public-supply drinking water while private-supply monitoring is rare; the current lack of directly comparable information on contaminant-mixture exposures...
Bradley, Paul; LeBlanc, Denis R.; Romanok, Kristin; Smalling, Kelly; Focazio, Michael J.; Cardon, Mary C.; Clark, Jimmy; Conley, Justin M.; Evans, Nicola; Givens, Carrie E; Gray, James L.; Gray, L. Earl; Hartig, Phillip C.; Higgins, Christopher P.; Hladik, Michelle; Iwanowicz, Luke R.; Loftin, Keith; McCleskey, R. Blaine; McDonough, Carrie A.; Medlock-Kakaley, Elizabeth; Weis, Christopher P.; Wilson, Vickie S. Machine learning models of arsenic in private wells throughout the conterminous United States as a tool for exposure assessment in human health studies
Arsenic from geologic sources is widespread in groundwater within the United States (U.S.). In several areas, groundwater arsenic concentrations exceed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency maximum contaminant level of 10 μg per liter (μg/L). However, this standard applies only to public-supply drinking water and not to private-supply, which is...
Lombard, Melissa; Scannell Bryan, Molly; Jones, Daniel K.; Bulka, Catherine; Bradley, Paul; Backer, Lorraine C.; Focazio, Michael J.; Silverman, Debra T.; Toccalino, Patricia; Argos, Maria; Gribble, Matthew O.; Ayotte, Joseph D. Inclusion of pesticide transformation products is key to estimating pesticide exposures and effects in small U.S. streams
Improved analytical methods can quantify hundreds of pesticide transformation products (TPs), but understanding of TP occurrence and potential toxicity in aquatic ecosystems remains limited. We quantified 108 parent pesticides and 116 TPs in more than 3 700 samples from 442 small streams in mostly urban basins across five major regions of the...
Mahler, Barbara; Nowell, Lisa H.; Sandstrom, Mark W.; Bradley, Paul; Romanok, Kristin; Konrad, Christopher; Van Metre, Peter Feral swine as sources of fecal contamination in recreational waters
Recreational waters are primary attractions at many national and state parks where feral swine populations are established, and thus are possible hotspots for visitor exposure to feral swine contaminants. Microbial source tracking (MST) was used to determine spatial and temporal patterns of fecal contamination in Congaree National Park (CONG) in...
McKee, Anna M.; Bradley, Paul; Shelley, David; McCarthy, Shea; Molina, Marirosa Multi-region assessment of chemical mixture exposures and predicted cumulative effects in USA wadeable urban/agriculture-gradient streams
Chemical-contaminant mixtures are widely reported in large stream reaches in urban/agriculture-developed watersheds, but mixture compositions and aggregate biological effects are less well understood in corresponding smaller headwaters, which comprise most of stream length, riparian connectivity, and spatial biodiversity. During 2014–2017,...
Bradley, Paul; Journey, Celeste A.; Romanok, Kristin; Breitmeyer, Sara; Button, Daniel T.; Carlisle, Daren; Huffman, Bradley; Mahler, Barbara; Nowell, Lisa H.; Qi, Sharon L.; Smalling, Kelly; Waite, Ian R.; Van Metre, Peter C. In vitro effects-based method and water quality screening model for use in pre- and post-distribution treated waters
Recent urban public water supply contamination events emphasize the importance of screening treated drinking water quality after distribution. In vitro bioassays, when run concurrently with analytical chemistry methods, are effective tools to evaluating the efficacy of water treatment processes and water quality. We tested 49 water...
Medlock-Kakaley, Elizabeth; Cardon, Mary C.; Evans, Nicola; Iwanowicz, Luke R.; Allen, Joshua M.; Wagner, Elizabeth; Bokenkamp, Katherine; Richardson, Susan D; Plewa, Michael J; Bradley, Paul; Romanok, Kristin; Kolpin, Dana W.; Conley, Justin M.; Gray, L. Earl Jr.; Hartig, Phillip C.; Wilson, Vickie S. Effects-based monitoring of bioactive chemicals discharged to the Colorado River before and after a municipal wastewater treatment plant replacement
Monitoring of the Colorado River near the Moab, Utah, wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) outflow has detected pharmaceuticals, hormones, and estrogen-receptor (ER)-, glucocorticoid receptor (GR)-, and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPARγ)-mediated biological activities. The aim of the present multi-year study was to assess...
Cavallin, J.E.; Battaglin, William A.; Beihoffer, Jon; Blackwell, Bradley D.; Bradley, Paul; Cole, AR; Ekman, Drew R.; Hofer, R; Kinsey, J; Keteles, Kristen; Weissinger, R; Winkelman, Dana L.; Villeneuve, Daniel L.
Effects of stormwater runoff from selected bridge decks on conditions of water, sediment, and biological quality in receiving waters in South Carolina, 2013 to 2018
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the South Carolina Department of Transportation, investigated the effects of stormwater runoff from bridge decks on stream water quality conditions in South Carolina. The investigation assessed 5 bridges in 3 physiographic provinces in South Carolina (Piedmont, Upper Coastal Plain, and Lower Coast...
Journey, Celeste A.; Petkewich, Matthew; Conlon, Kevin J.; Caldwell, Andral W.; Clark, Jimmy M.; Riley, Jeffrey W.; Bradley, Paul M.
Chemical mixtures are common in small streams in the U.S.
Mixtures of organic chemicals are ubiquitous in small U.S. streams, reports a new study by the U.S. Geological Survey. In many streams the mixtures could be affecting stream organisms.
Pharmaceuticals common in small streams in the U.S.
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. In some streams, pharmaceuticals were detected at concentrations that could potentially be of concern for fish health.