Science Inventory

Contaminant exposure and transport from three potential reuse waters within a single watershed

Citation:

Masoner, J., D. Kolpin, I. Cozzarelli, P. Bradley, B. Arnall, K. Forshay, J. Gray, J. Groves, M. Hladik, L. Hubbard, L. Iwanowicz, J. Jaeschke, R. Lane, B. McCleskey, B. Polite, D. Roth, M. Pettijohn, AND M. Wilson. Contaminant exposure and transport from three potential reuse waters within a single watershed. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, 57(3):1353-1365, (2023). https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c07372

Impact/Purpose:

To maintain safe and sustainable water supplies a better understanding of contaminants in potential reuse waters is needed. Many of the detected organic chemicals are known to persist in the environment and, therefore, are priority considerations for the development of reuse practices and of planned “fit-for-purpose” or unplanned “next use” treatment design requirements. The results document organic-chemical contribution to surface water from daily effluent discharges. These results can be used to support management decisions about water reuse and the influence of emergent contaminants on water quality, crops, and other planned reuse scenarios.

Description:

Global demand for safe and sustainable water supplies necessitates a better understanding of contaminants in potential reuse waters. In this study, we compared exposures and load contributions to surface water from discharge of three reuse waters (wastewater effluent, urban stormwater, and agricultural runoff). Results document substantial organic-chemical contribution to surface water from daily effluent discharges (e.g., disinfection-by-products [DBP], prescription pharmaceuticals, industrial/household chemicals), urban stormwater (e.g., polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, pesticides, nonprescription pharmaceuticals), and agricultural runoff (e.g., pesticides). Excluding DBPs, episodic storm-event organic concentrations and loads from urban stormwater were comparable to and often exceeded those of daily wastewater-effluent discharges. A seasonal target-organic-load of 491 g from effluent-irrigation to a corn field did not produce substantial dissolved organic-contaminant contributions in subsequent rain-induced runoff events. Out of the 139 detected contaminants in wastewater-effluent irrigation, only imidacloprid and estrone were detected in rain-induced agricultural runoff from the effluent-irrigated corn field. Analyses of pharmaceuticals and per-/poly-fluoroalkyl substances in corn samples collected at harvest detected two prescription antibiotics, norfloxacin and ciprofloxacin, at concentrations of 36 ng/g and 70 ng/g, respectively in effluent-irrigated corn; no compounds were detected in non-effluent irrigated corn.