Peter C Van Metre
Peter Van Metre is in the Earth System Processes Division of the USGS Water Mission Area. He is coordinator of the Regional Stream Quality Assessment (RSQA) of the USGS National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) project.
Biography
I’ve been with the USGS since 1980, starting as a Hydrologic Technician in Tampa, Florida, and working my way up through the ranks, eventually becoming a Research Hydrologist and getting a PhD. In 1991, I joined the NAWQA project as a Water-Quality Specialist and for many years led a small team of researchers determining long-term contaminant trends using lake and reservoir sediment cores. In 2012, with the start of the third decadal cycle of NAWQA, I was chosen to design and lead the Regional Stream Quality Assessment (RSQA) studies. The RSQA team, which includes geochemists, biologists, data management specialists, and hydrologists, is assessing stream quality and ecological condition and determining the effects of multiple chemical and physical stressors on stream biota. From 2013 to 2017, five large regions of the country were assessed, and we continue to interpret the wealth of data produced and publish those findings.
Science and Products
Multistressor predictive models of invertebrate condition in the Corn Belt, USA
Understanding the complex relations between multiple environmental stressors and ecological conditions in streams can help guide resource-management decisions. During 14 weeks in spring/summer 2013, personnel from the US Geological Survey and the US Environmental Protection Agency sampled 98 wadeable streams across the Midwest Corn Belt region of...
Waite, Ian R.; Van Metre, Peter C. Complex mixtures of Pesticides in Midwest U.S. streams indicated by POCIS time-integrating samplers
The Midwest United States is an intensely agricultural region where pesticides in streams pose risks to aquatic biota, but temporal variability in pesticide concentrations makes characterization of their exposure to organisms challenging. To compensate for the effects of temporal variability, we deployed polar organic chemical integrative samplers...
Van Metre, Peter C.; Alvarez, David; Mahler, Barbara J.; Nowell, Lisa H.; Sandstrom, Mark W.; Moran, Patrick W. Sources and ages of fine-grained sediment to streams using fallout radionuclides in the Midwestern United States
Fallout radionuclides, 7Be and 210Pbex, sampled in bed sediment for 99 watersheds in the Midwestern region of the United States and in 15 samples of suspended sediment from 3 of these watersheds were used to partition upland from channel sources and to estimate the age or the time since the surface-derived portion of sediment was on the...
Gellis, Allen; Fuller, Christopher C.; Van Metre, Peter C. Coal-tar-based pavement sealants—a potent source of PAHs
P avement sealants are applied to the asphalt pavement of many parking lots, driveways, and even playgrounds in North America (Figure 1), where, when first applied, they render the pavement glossy black and looking like new. Sealant products used commercially in the central, eastern, and northern United States typically are coal-tarbased, whereas...
Mahler, Barbara J.; Van Metre, Peter C. Similarities and differences in occurrence and temporal fluctuations in glyphosate and atrazine in small Midwestern streams (USA) during the 2013 growing season
Glyphosate and atrazine are the most intensively used herbicides in the United States. Although there is abundant spatial and temporal information on atrazine occurrence at regional scales, there are far fewer data for glyphosate, and studies that compare the two herbicides are rare. We investigated temporal patterns in glyphosate and atrazine...
Mahler, Barbara J.; Van Metre, Peter C.; Burley, Thomas E.; Loftin, Keith A.; Meyer, Michael T.; Nowell, Lisa H. Trends and sources of PAHs to urban lakes and streams
Over the past few decades, concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have been increasing in the sediments of many U.S. urban lakes and streams. These upward trends contrast those of legacy pollutants, such as lead, PCBs, and DDT, which were restricted or banned in the 1970s. Trends of these legacy pollutants have been downward...
Van Metre, Peter C.; Mahler, Barbara J. High nitrate concentrations in some Midwest United States streams in 2013 after the 2012 drought
Nitrogen sources in the Mississippi River basin have been linked to degradation of stream ecology and to Gulf of Mexico hypoxia. In 2013, the USGS and the USEPA characterized water quality stressors and ecological conditions in 100 wadeable streams across the midwestern United States. Wet conditions in 2013 followed a severe drought in 2012, a...
Van Metre, Peter C.; Frey, Jeffrey W.; Musgrove, MaryLynn; Nakagaki, Naomi; Qi, Sharon L.; Mahler, Barbara J.; Wieczorek, Michael; Button, Daniel T. Bifenthrin causes trophic cascades and alters insect emergence in mesocosms: implication for small streams
Direct and indirect ecological effects of the widely used insecticide bifenthrin on stream ecosystems are largely unknown. To investigate such effects, a manipulative experiment was conducted in stream mesocosms that were colonized by aquatic insect communities and exposed to bifenthrin-contaminated sediment; implications for natural streams were...
Rogers, Holly; Schmidt, Travis S.; Dabney, Brittanie L.; Hladik, Michelle; Mahler, Barbara J.; Van Metre, Peter C. Metformin and other pharmaceuticals widespread in wadeable streams of the southeastern United States
Pharmaceutical contaminants are growing aquatic-health concerns and largely attributed to wastewater treatment facility (WWTF) discharges. Five biweekly water samples from 59 small Piedmont (United States) streams were analyzed for 108 pharmaceuticals and degradates using high-performance liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry. The...
Bradley, Paul M.; Journey, Celeste A.; Button, Daniel T.; Carlisle, Daren M.; Clark, Jimmy M.; Mahler, Barbara J.; Nakagaki, Naomi; Qi, Sharon L.; Waite, Ian R.; Van Metre, Peter C. Effects of urbanization on mercury deposition and accumulation in New England
We compare total mercury (HgT) loading and methylmercury (MeHg) accumulation in streams and lakes from an urbanized area (Boston, Massachusetts) to rural regions of southern New Hampshire and Maine. The maximum HgT loading, as indicated by HgT atmospheric deposition, HgT emissions, and sediment HgT concentrations, did not coincide with maximum...
Chalmers, Ann T.; Krabbenhoft, David P.; Van Metre, Peter C.; Nilles, Mark A. Concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and azaarenes in runoff from coal-tar- and asphalt-sealcoated pavement
Coal-tar-based sealcoat, used extensively on parking lots and driveways in North America, is a potent source of PAHs. We investigated how concentrations and assemblages of PAHs and azaarenes in runoff from pavement newly sealed with coal-tar-based (CT) or asphalt-based (AS) sealcoat changed over time. Samples of simulated runoff were collected...
Mahler, Barbara J.; Van Metre, Peter C.; Foreman, William T. Historical records, sources, and spatial trends of PCBs along the Rhône River (France).
Despite bans on PCB use since 1975 (open systems) and 1987 (closed systems), concentrations of PCBs in riverine fish in France continue to exceed regulatory levels. We present historical records of PCB concentrations in sediment cores from eight sites on the Rhône River, from Lake Geneva to the Mediterranean Sea. Maximum PCB concentrations (sum of...
Mourier, Brice; Desmet, Marc; Van Metre, Peter C.; Mahler, Barbara J.; Perrodin, Yves; Roux, Gwenaelle; Bedell, Jean-Phillippe; Lefebvre, Lynn W.; Babut, Marc