Contaminants of Emerging Concern During De Facto Water Reuse (ISES-ISEE 2018)
Citation:
Glassmeyer, S., E. Furlong, D. Kolpin, AND M. Mills. Contaminants of Emerging Concern During De Facto Water Reuse (ISES-ISEE 2018). ISES-ISEE 2018 Joint Annual Meeting, Ottawa, CANADA, August 26 - 30, 2018.
Impact/Purpose:
The purpose of this presentation is to present the preliminary results examining the fate and transport of contaminants of emerging concern from a wastewater treatment plant to a downstream drinking water treatment plant.
Description:
The drinking water and wastewater cycles are integrally linked. Chemicals that are present in household wastewater may be sufficiently mobile and recalcitrant to pass through on-site or municipal wastewater treatment and survive natural environmental removal processes. Such persistent compounds have the potential to reach surface and ground waters that may be a source of drinking water. The US Environmental Protection Agency and US Geological Survey are collaborating to examine the sources, fates, and potential effects of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) during de facto water reuse which occurs when treated wastewater is discharged to a source of drinking water. The project sampling design follows a surface flow path, with the collection of grab water samples from just upstream of a wastewater treatment plant outfall and downstream to a drinking water treatment plant intake and through the plant to a finished water sample. The study uses an integrated approach that includes a comprehensive analysis of over 200 specific chemicals (e.g. pharmaceuticals, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, hormones, etc.); high resolution mass spectrometry to identify non-targeted (unknown) chemicals; in vitro bioassays (e.g. estrogenicity, androgenicity, genotoxicity, toxicity in metabolizing cells); rapid whole organisms screens (e.g. Microtox) to assess cumulative bioactivity; and in vivo tests to address specific exposure and response endpoints. A rigorous quality assurance/quality control protocol design was consistently applied from field to laboratory to ensure comparability of results from different techniques. This consistent, integrated approach combines the strength of each technique and builds upon the traditional CEC research approach by including environmental and toxicity endpoint assessments to more fully explore the potential effects to human health and the environment from chemical exposures. This presentation will provide an overview of the study, discussing the project design and preliminary results from the analysis for organic and inorganic chemicals from the samples.
