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RECONNAISSANCE FOR ARSENIC, ESTRADIOL, ANTIBIOTICS, AND MICROBIAL RESISTANCE IN POULTRY-DOMINATED CHESAPEAKE BAY WATERSHEDS
Citation:
Hancock, T. C., J. M. Denver, C. Miller, G. G. Reidel, M. E. Schreiber, J. S. Herman, F J. Genthner, R. Jones, F. Angulo, P. Cray, AND R. B. Landy. RECONNAISSANCE FOR ARSENIC, ESTRADIOL, ANTIBIOTICS, AND MICROBIAL RESISTANCE IN POULTRY-DOMINATED CHESAPEAKE BAY WATERSHEDS. Presented at USGS Workshop on Emerging Issues in Water Quality, Altamonte Springs, FL, November 26-30, 2001.
Description:
There are concerns about the effects from the high density of poultry feeding operations and the extensive use of feed amendments on water quality in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia and Delmarva Peninsula. Therefore, we conducted reconnaissance investigations in two Shenandoah watersheds and the Pocomoke River watershed in Maryland for arsenic, 17b-estradiol, antibiotics, and acquired microbial resistance in a variety of environmental samples, including poultry litter, soils, streambed sediments, unsaturated-zone water, ground
water, and surface water. Concentrations of arsenic were highest in fresh poultry litter, storm runoff, unsaturated-zone water, and in iron-rich (reducing) ground water. The observed storm response in the watersheds suggests a source of arsenic from surface runoff; however, in the Pocomoke watershed, the ground-water flow system also may be a natural source. Trace amounts of 17b-estradiol were detected in stream water of both watersheds and in unsaturated-zone water from a Shenandoah watershed under low-flow condition; these concentrations decreased from spring to summer. In the Pocomoke watershed, antibiotics were
detected in fresh and aged litter samples. Trace amounts of antibiotics were detected in streambed sediment and ground water near agricultural fields; antibiotics were not detected in surface-water samples. Several enterococci isolates from surface water as well as soil and poultry litter, in the Pocomoke watershed, were resistant to antibiotics of clinical significance in veterinary and human medicine. Further monitoring, analysis, and collaboration among USGS and other federal agencies and research institutions will foster a better understanding of these emerging water-quality issues, particularly the potential impacts on human and ecosystem health.