William T Foreman
Science and Products
Urban stormwater: An overlooked pathway of extensive mixed contaminants to surface and groundwaters in the United States
Increasing global reliance on stormwater control measures to reduce discharge to surface water, increase groundwater recharge, and minimize contaminant delivery to receiving waterbodies necessitates improved understanding of stormwater-contaminant profiles. A multi-agency study of organic and inorganic chemicals in urban stormwater from 50 runoff...
Masoner, Jason R.; Kolpin, Dana W.; Cozzarelli, Isabelle M.; Barber, Larry B.; Burden, D.S.; Foreman, William T.; Forshay, Kenneth J.; Furlong, Edward; Groves, Justin F.; Hladik, Michelle; Hopton, Matthew E.; Jaeschke, Jeanne B.; Keefe, Steffanie H.; Krabbenhoft, David; Lowrance , Richard; Romanok, Kristin; Rus, David L.; Selbig, William R.; Williams, Brad; Bradley, PaulUse of Set Blanks in Reporting Pesticide Results at the U.S. Geological Survey National Water Quality Laboratory, 2001–15
Executive SummaryBackground.—Pesticide results from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water Quality Laboratory (NWQL) are used for water-quality assessments by many agencies and organizations. The USGS is committed to providing data of the highest possible quality to the consumers of its data. A cooperator’s inquiries about specific...
Medalie, Laura; Sandstrom, Mark W.; Toccalino, Patricia L.; Foreman, William T.; ReVello, Rhiannon C.; Bexfield, Laura M.; Riskin, Melissa L.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, EdwardPharmaceutical manufacturing facility discharges can substantially increase the pharmaceutical load to U.S. wastewaters
Discharges from pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities (PMFs) previously have been identified as important sources of pharmaceuticals to the environment. Yet few studies are available to establish the influence of PMFs on the pharmaceutical source contribution to wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and waterways at the national scale....
Scott, Tia-Marie; Phillips, Patrick J.; Kolpin, Dana W.; Colella, Kaitlyn M.; Furlong, Edward T.; Foreman, William T.; Gray, James L.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.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.Enabling science support for better decision-making when responding to chemical spills
Chemical spills and accidents contaminate the environment and disrupt societies and economies around the globe. In the United States there were approximately 172,000 chemical spills that affected US waterbodies from 2004 to 2014. More than 8000 of these spills involved non–petroleum-related chemicals. Traditional emergency responses or incident...
Weidhass, Jennifer L.; Dietrich, Andrea M.; DeYonker, Nathan J.; Dupont, R. Ryan; Foreman, William T. ; Gallagher, Daniel; Gallagher, Jennifer E. G.; Whelton, Andrew J.; Alexander, WilliamThe impact of onsite wastewater disposal systems on groundwater in areas inundated by Hurricane Sandy in New York and New Jersey
Coastal onsite wastewater disposal systems (OWDS) were inundated by Hurricane Sandy's storm tide. This study compares the shallow groundwater quality (nutrients, pharmaceuticals, and hormones) downgradient of OWDS before and after Hurricane Sandy, where available, and establishes a baseline for wastewater influence on groundwater in coastal...
Fisher, Irene; Phillips, Patrick J.; Colella, Kaitlyn; Fisher, Shawn C.; Tagliaferri, Tristen N.; Foreman, William T. ; Furlong, Edward T.Regional variability in bed-sediment concentrations of wastewater compounds, hormones and PAHs for portions of coastal New York and New Jersey impacted by hurricane Sandy
Bed sediment samples from 79 coastal New York and New Jersey, USA sites were analyzed for 75 compounds including wastewater associated contaminants, PAHs, and other organic compounds to assess the post-Hurricane Sandy distribution of organic contaminants among six regions. These results provide the first assessment of wastewater compounds,...
Phillips, Patrick J.; Gibson, Cathy A; Fisher, Shawn C.; Fisher, Irene; Reilly, Timothy J.; Smalling, Kelly L. ; Romanok, Kristin M. ; Foreman, William T. ; ReVello, Rhiannon C.; Focazio, Michael J.; Jones, Daniel K.Pre/post-closure assessment of groundwater pharmaceutical fate in a wastewater‑facility-impacted stream reach
Pharmaceutical contamination of contiguous groundwater is a substantial concern in wastewater-impacted streams, due to ubiquity in effluent, high aqueous mobility, designed bioactivity, and to effluent-driven hydraulic gradients. Wastewater treatment facility (WWTF) closures are rare environmental remediation events; offering unique insights into...
Bradley, Paul M.; Barber, Larry B.; Clark, Jimmy M.; Duris, Joseph W.; Foreman, William T. ; Furlong, Edward T.; Givens, Carrie E.; Hubbard, Laura E.; Hutchinson, Kasey J.; Journey, Celeste A.; Keefe, Steffanie H.; Kolpin, Dana W.Contamination with bacterial zoonotic pathogen genes in U.S. streams influenced by varying types of animal agriculture
Animal waste, stream water, and streambed sediment from 19 small (< 32 km2) watersheds in 12 U.S. states having either no major animal agriculture (control, n = 4), or predominantly beef (n = 4), dairy (n = 3), swine (n = 5), or poultry (n = 3) were tested for: 1) cholesterol,...
Haack, Sheridan K.; Duris, Joseph W.; Kolpin, Dana W.; Focazio, Michael J.; Meyer, Michael T.; Johnson, Heather E.; Oster, Ryan J.; Foreman, William T.Genes indicative of zoonotic and swine pathogens are persistent in stream water and sediment following a swine manure spill
Manure spills to streams are relatively frequent, but no studies have characterized stream contamination with zoonotic and veterinary pathogens, or fecal chemicals, following a spill. We tested stream water and sediment over 25 days and downstream for 7.6 km for: fecal indicator bacteria (FIB); the fecal indicator chemicals cholesterol and...
Haack, Sheridan K.; Duris, Joseph W.; Kolpin, Dana W.; Fogarty, Lisa R.; Johnson, Heather E.; Gibson, Kristen E.; Focazio, Michael J.; Schwab, Kellogg J.; Hubbard, Laura E.; Foreman, William T.