Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: Occurrence and Fate of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in Groundwater Environments
EPA Grant Number: R829007Title: Occurrence and Fate of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in Groundwater Environments
Investigators: Brownawell, Bruce J. , Iden, Charles R.
Institution: The State University of New York at Stony Brook
EPA Project Officer: Page, Angela
Project Period: September 21, 2001 through September 20, 2004 (Extended to September 20, 2005)
Project Amount: $495,955
RFA: Drinking Water (2000) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Drinking Water , Water Quality , Water
Objective:
The primary objectives of the proposed study are to:
1. Determine the distribution of a wide range of highly used, toxicologically-significant pharmaceuticals, hormones, and personal care products (PPCPs) in point source discharges and in groundwaters that receive those discharges; and
2. Assess the likelihood of migration of PPCPs through sand-gravel aquifers using a combination of field observation, and laboratory-based process studies.
Approach:
The vulnerability of groundwaters to contamination with PPCP discharges will be studied by comparing the groundwater distributions of PPCPs in areas of different land use (i.e., sewered vs. unsewered residential communities) and by determining distributions in groundwaters affected by known point source of PPCPs to the subsurface (sewage treatment plant discharges, landfill leachates, and cesspools). Laboratory sorption and transformation studies will support interpretations and test hypotheses generated from the field data.Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
We were able to address each of the primary and secondary objectives of the grant. A newly purchased Micromass LC-T HPLC-time-of-flight (TOF)-MS system served as the primary analytical tool to be used for the project. We were able demonstrate both outstanding sensitivity (signal to noise in environmental matrices that is intermediate between common single and triple quadrupole instruments) with full spectral resolution (that allows us to search for both targeted and nontargeted analytes at ultratrace levels), sufficient dynamic range for quantitative analysis when testing, and unique selectivity capabilities that allowed for a high level of confirmation of analytes through accurate mass (usually within 2.0 mDa) and elemental composition estimation that is complementary to that obtained by MS-MS analysis. The resolution of the TOF analyzer (resolution of 6000-7000) was sufficient to reduce greatly nominal same mass interferences for many analytes, sometimes using only minimal sample clean-up. We were able to use this instrument to provide meaningful detection of a range of high volume pharmaceuticals in groundwaters, municipal wastewaters, and estuarine surface waters; of selected steroid estrogens and alkyphenol ethoxylate metabolites in sediments and in groundwaters in a septic tank plume; and of homologous of polyoxyethylene and polyoxypropylene derivatives in wastewaters and groundwater.
Expected Results:
This project will fill important data gaps with respect to the distribution, transport, and fate of a wide range of PPCPs in groundwaters. Measurements of PPCPs in groundwaters near potentially important sources would provide valuable end-member information with which to estimate risk to drinking water supplies. Given the low detection limits afforded by HPLC-ESI-MS, it will be possible make PPCP concentration measurements in groundwater that will typically be much lower than those in source waters, assuring that it will be possible to make useful interpretations from those data concerning fate and transport. This groundwater-based study will complement other recent or concurrent studies of surface waters in the U.S. and abroad by other investigators, and provide a greater knowledge base needed for comparing relative risks for disposal PPCPs to surface and subsurface environments. The data generated in this project will also provide the most comprehensive study to date of environmental estrogens in groundwaters.Journal Articles on this Report : 6 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
Other project views: | All 29 publications | 7 publications in selected types | All 6 journal articles |
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Type | Citation | ||
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Benotti MJ, Brownawell BJ. Distributions of pharmaceuticals in an urban estuary during both dry-and wet-weather conditions. Environmental Science & Technology 2007;41(16):5795-5802. |
R829007 (Final) |
Exit |
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Benotti MJ, Brownawell BJ. Microbial degradation of pharmaceuticals in estuarine and coastal seawater. Environmental Pollution 2009;157(3):994-1002. |
R829007 (Final) |
Exit Exit Exit |
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Reddy S, Brownawell BJ. Analysis of estrogens in sediment from a sewage-impacted urban estuary using high-performance liquid chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 2005;24(5):1041-1047. |
R829007 (2004) R829007 (Final) |
Exit |
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Reddy S, Iden CR, Brownawell BJ. Analysis of steroid conjugates in sewage influent and effluent by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Analytical Chemistry 2005;77(21):7032-7038. |
R829007 (2004) R829007 (Final) |
Exit |
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Swartz CH, Reddy S, Benotti MJ, Yin H, Barber LB, Brownawell BJ, Rudel RA. Steroid estrogens, nonylphenol ethoxylate metabolites, and other wastewater contaminants in groundwater affected by a residential septic system on Cape Cod, MA. Environmental Science & Technology 2006;40(16):4894-4902. |
R829007 (Final) |
Exit Exit Exit |
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Thurman EM, Ferrer I, Benotti M, Heine CE. Intramolecular isobaric fragmentation: a curiosity of accurate mass analysis of sulfadimethoxine in pond water. Analytical Chemistry 2004;76(5):1228-1235. |
R829007 (2003) R829007 (2004) R829007 (Final) |
Exit |
Supplemental Keywords:
pharmaceuticals, estrogens, groundwater, tracers, HPLC-MS, RFA, Scientific Discipline, Water, Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, Wastewater, Environmental Chemistry, Health Risk Assessment, Fate & Transport, Analytical Chemistry, Environmental Monitoring, Drinking Water, monitoring, fate and transport, aquifer characteristics, human health effects, pharmaceuticals, exposure and effects, pharmacokinetics, estrogen, transformation studies, exposure, other - risk assessment, chemical contaminants, personal care products, kinetic studies, treatment, wastewater systems, hormones, wastewater discharges, drinking water contaminants, effluents, drinking water system, groundwaterRelevant Websites:
http://www.somas.stonybrook.edu/people/brownawell.html ExitProgress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.