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Shannon M Meppelink

Shannon is a Physical Scientist in the USGS, Central Midwest Water Science Center located in Iowa City, Iowa. She has been with the Survey since May 2008. Shannon has worked on a range of NAWQA SW and GW projects and currently is involved in projects with the City of Cedar Rapids, NWQP, nutrient monitoring, and the Environmental Health mission area.

Education and Certifications

  • 2014 M.S. Environmental Health, University of Iowa College of Public Health

  • 2011 B.A. Environmental Studies, Geoscience, University of Iowa

Science and Products

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Small stream traversing a field

Study Provides a Data Resource for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in Streams Within Iowa Agricultural Watersheds

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) were detected in streams within agricultural areas (an often-unmeasured landscape) across Iowa. The data from this study provide one resource to understand the extent of PFAS concentrations in water resources from diverse landscapes throughout the United States.
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Ecosystems, Environmental Health, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, Toxic Substances Hydrology
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Study Provides a Data Resource for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in Streams Within Iowa Agricultural Watersheds

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) were detected in streams within agricultural areas (an often-unmeasured landscape) across Iowa. The data from this study provide one resource to understand the extent of PFAS concentrations in water resources from diverse landscapes throughout the United States.
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Target-Chemical Concentrations, Exposure Activity Ratios, and Bioassay Results for Assessment of Mixed-Organic/Inorganic Chemical Exposures in Northeast Iowa Private-Well Tapwater, 2018

In the United States and globally, contaminant exposure in unregulated private-well point-of-use (POU) tapwater (TW) is a recognized public health data gap and an obstacle to both risk management and homeowner decision making. To help address the lack of data on broad contaminant exposures in private-well TW from hydrologically vulnerable (alluvial or karst) aquifers in agriculturally intensive la
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South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)

Water-quality data for a statewide assessment of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) study in Iowa, 2019-2020

Data were collected at 60 surface water and two effluent sites across Iowa in 2019-2020 by staff from the U.S. Geological Survey Central Midwest Water Science Center. Samples were submitted to the National Water Quality Laboratory in Denver, Colorado, and were analyzed for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.
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Ecosystems, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, Toxic Substances Hydrology, Central Midwest Water Science Center
USGS Researcher Fills a Sample Container from a Dripping Spigot.
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Juxtaposition of intensive agriculture, vulnerable aquifers, and mixed chemical/microbial exposures in private-well tapwater in northeast Iowa

In the United States and globally, contaminant exposure in unregulated private-well point-of-use tapwater (TW) is a recognized public-health data gap and an obstacle to both risk-management and homeowner decision making. To help address the lack of data on broad contaminant exposures in private-well TW from hydrologically-vulnerable (alluvial, karst) aquifers in agriculturally-intensive landscapes
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Water Resources, California Water Science Center, Kansas Water Science Center, New Jersey Water Science Center, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC), Central Midwest Water Science Center, Upper Midwest Water Science Center

Tapwater exposures, effects potential, and residential risk management in Northern Plains Nations

In the United States (US), private-supply tapwater (TW) is rarely monitored. This data gap undermines individual/community risk-management decision-making, leading to an increased probability of unrecognized contaminant exposures in rural and remote locations that rely on private wells. We assessed point-of-use (POU) TW in three northern plains Tribal Nations, where ongoing TW arsenic (As) interve
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Water Resources, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)

Transcriptome signatures of wastewater effluent exposure in larval zebrafish vary with seasonal mixture composition in an effluent-dominated stream

Wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent-dominated streams provide critical habitat for aquatic and terrestrial organisms but also continually expose them to complex mixtures of pharmaceuticals that can potentially impair growth, behavior, and reproduction. Currently, few biomarkers are available that relate to pharmaceutical-specific mechanisms of action. In the experiment reported in this pape
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Central Midwest Water Science Center

RNA-seq reveals potential gene biomarkers in fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) for exposure to treated wastewater effluent

Discharged wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent greatly contributes to the generation of complex mixtures of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in aquatic environments which often contain neuropharmaceuticals and other emerging contaminants that may impact neurological function. However, there is a paucity of knowledge on the neurological impacts of these exposures to aquatic organisms.

A comprehensive statewide spatiotemporal stream assessment of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in an agricultural region of the United States

Public concern regarding per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) has grown substantially in recent years. In addition, research has documented multiple potential agriculture-related release pathways for PFAS (e.g., biosolids and livestock manure). Nevertheless, little research on the environmental prevalence of PFAS has been conducted in agricultural regions of the United States. To fill this g

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Ecosystems, Water Resources, Contaminant Biology, Energy Resources Program, Environmental Health Program, Toxic Substances Hydrology, Central Midwest Water Science Center

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 than 524 organic, 37 inorganic, and select microbiolo
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Ecosystems, Water Resources, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, Toxic Substances Hydrology, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC), National Water Quality Laboratory

Occurrence and spatiotemporal dynamics of pharmaceuticals in a temperate-region wastewater effluent-dominated stream: Variable inputs and differential attenuation yield evolving complex exposure mixtures

Effluent-dominated streams are becoming increasingly common in temperate regions and generate complex pharmaceutical mixture exposure conditions that may impact aquatic organisms via drug–drug interactions. Here, we quantified spatiotemporal pharmaceutical exposure concentrations and composition mixture dynamics during baseflow conditions at four sites in a temperate-region effluent-dominated stre
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Ecosystems, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, Toxic Substances Hydrology, Central Midwest Water Science Center, Eastern Ecological Science Center

Mixed organic and inorganic tapwater exposures and potential effects in greater Chicago area, USA

Safe drinking water at the point of use (tapwater, TW) is a public-health priority. TW exposures and potential human-health concerns of 540 organics and 35 inorganics were assessed in 45 Chicago area United States (US) homes in 2017. No US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enforceable Maximum Contaminant Level(s) (MCL) were exceeded in any residential or water treatment plant (WTP) pre-distrib
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Ecosystems, Water Resources, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, Toxic Substances Hydrology, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC), National Water Quality Laboratory

Selected water-quality data from the Cedar River and Cedar Rapids well fields, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 2008–17

The Cedar River alluvial aquifer is the primary source of municipal water in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Municipal wells are completed in the alluvial aquifer about 40 to 80 feet below land surface. The City of Cedar Rapids and the U.S. Geological Survey have led a cooperative study of the groundwater-flow system and water quality of the aquifer since 1992. Cooperative reports between the City of Cedar Ra

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Central Midwest Water Science Center, Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Water Science Center, Ohio Water Microbiology Laboratory

Methods used for the collection and analysis of chemical and biological data for the Tapwater Exposure Study, United States, 2016–17

In 2016, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Environmental Health Mission Area, initiated the Tapwater Exposure Study as part of an infrastructure project to assess human exposure to potential threats from complex mixtures of contaminants. In the pilot phase (2016), samples were collected from 11 States throughout the United States, and in the second phase (2017), the study focused on the Greater Ch
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Ecosystems, Water Resources, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, Toxic Substances Hydrology, Central Midwest Water Science Center, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC), National Water Quality Laboratory

Concentrations of lead and other inorganic constituents in samples of raw intake and treated drinking water from the municipal water filtration plant and residential tapwater in Chicago, Illinois, and East Chicago, Indiana, July–December 2017

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Environmental Health Mission Area (EHMA) is providing comprehensive science on sources, movement, and transformation of contaminants and pathogens in watershed and aquifer drinking-water supplies and in built water and wastewater infrastructure (referred to as the USGS Water and Wastewater Infrastructure project) in the Greater Chicago Area and elsewhere in the Un
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Water Resources, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, Toxic Substances Hydrology, Central Midwest Water Science Center, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)

Fate and transport of nitrapyrin in agroecosystems: Occurrence in agricultural soils, subsurface drains, and receiving streams in the Midwestern US

Nitrapyrin is a nitrification inhibitor that is co-applied with nitrogen fertilizer in agroecosystems. There is limited information on the fate of nitrapyrin after it is applied to agricultural soils. Over the course of one year (March 2016 to June 2017), 192 water samples from seven streams across Iowa and Illinois were analyzed for nitrapyrin, its metabolite 6‑chloropicolinic acid (6‑CPA), and t
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Water Resources, California Water Science Center

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