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Contaminants of Emerging Concern in Groundwater Under the Influence of Onsite Septic Systems
Citation:
Glassmeyer, S., T. McCobb, E. Furlong, D. Kolpin, M. Mills, J. Shoemaker, D. LeBlanc, J. Barbaro, AND M. Belaval. Contaminants of Emerging Concern in Groundwater Under the Influence of Onsite Septic Systems. SETAC Europe, Virtual, May 03 - 06, 2021.
Impact/Purpose:
This study examined groundwater before, during, and after conversion from onsite septic systems to community wastewater. Samples were analyzed for a suite of 100+ contaminants of emerging concern.
Description:
Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CECs), as a class of chemicals and potential biological stressors, are difficult to measure, and can be linked to many ongoing and historic sources. One challenge with source identification and mitigation is that, in many instances, multiple sources contribute to the contaminant loading to the system. Research has identified municipal wastewater treatment discharges (e.g. aqueous effluents, biosolids) as an important source of CECs to the environment. While more than 20% of households across the United States use private onsite septic systems, understanding and characterizing environmental exposures and environmental effects derived from such sources are not well understood. The objective of this project is to observe potential changes in groundwater quality in response to over 1400 homes in Falmouth, MA switching from onsite septic systems to community-based wastewater treatment systems. This conversion represents a unique opportunity to understand how groundwater concentrations in chemical and microbial CECs are affected by a change in the CEC source term through this change in wastewater management.