Transport of Chemical and Microbial Compounds from Known Wastewater Discharges:  Potential for Use as Indicators of Human Fecal Contamination

Abstract

The quality of drinking and recreational water is currently (2005) determined using indicator bacteria. However, the culture tests used to analyze for these bacteria require a long time to complete and do not discriminate between human and animal fecal material sources. One complementary approach is to use chemicals found in human wastewater, which would have the advantages of (1) potentially shorter analysis times than the bacterial culture tests and (2) being selected for human-source specificity. At 10 locations, water samples were collected upstream and at two successive points downstream from a wastewaster treatment plant (WWTP); a treated effluent sample was also collected at each WWTP. This sampling plan was used to determine the persistence of a chemically diverse suite of emerging contaminants in streams. Samples were also collected at two reference locations assumed to have minimal human impacts. Of the 110 chemical analytes investigated in this project, 78 were detected at least once. The number of compounds in a given sample ranged from 3 at a reference location to 50 in a WWTP effluent sample. The total analyte load at each location varied from 0.018 µg/L at the reference location to 97.7 µg/L in a separate WWTP effluent sample. Although most of the compound concentrations were in the range of 0.01-1.0 µg/ L, in some samples, individual concentrations were in the range of 5-38 µg/L. The concentrations of the majority of the chemicals present in the samples generally followed the expected trend: they were either nonexistent or at trace levels in the upstream samples, had their maximum concentrations in the WWTP effluent samples, and then declined in the two downstream samples. This research suggests that selected chemicals are useful as tracers of human wastewater discharge.

Monitoring of β-blockers ozone degradation via electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

“…1,2 But such accumulation is governed mainly by the environmental bio-and photo-transformation 3 and the speed and nature of the natural degradation of these potentially harmful contaminants. 4,5 The photolytic degradation of chemicals in the environment may occur via direct sunlight absorption or by reactions with strong oxidizing species such as hydroxyl radicals and singlet oxygen.…”

Research trends on emerging environment pollutants – a review

“…1 shows the frequency of detection for compounds present in 20% or more of samples, and Fig. 2 the maximum concentrations detected by Loos et al [61]. The most relevant compounds in terms of both frequency of detection and maximum concentrations detected were DEET, caffeine, PFOA, atrazine, desethylatrazine, 1H-benzotriazole methylbenzotriazole, desethylterbuthylazine, PFOS, simazine, carbamazepine, nonylphenoxy acetic acid, bisphenol A, perfluorohexane sulfonate terbuthylazine, bentazone, propazine, perfluoroheptanoic acid, 2,4-dinitrophenol, diuron and sulfamethoxazole.…”

“…Loos et al [61] report a pan-European reconnaissance for polar persistent organic pollutants in groundwater. In total, 164 individual groundwater samples from 23 European countries were collected and analyzed (among others) for 59 selected organic compounds, comprising pharmaceuticals, antibiotics, pesticides (and their metabolites), perfluorinated acids (PFAs), benzotriazoles, hormones, alkylphenolics (endocrine disrupters), caffeine, DEET, and triclosan.…”

Emerging Organic Contaminants in Groundwater

“…Wastewater-derived from domestic, industrial, or hospital premises and waste disposal sites is considered one of the most important point sources of ECs in the aquatic environment [108][109][110]. A large number of studies have investigated the fate of ECs in groundwater following infiltration of wastewaters (sewage, septic tank effluents and industrial) as well as contaminated surface water sources, and to date provides the largest body of research regarding the sources and fate of ECs in the subsurface [111][112][113][114][115][116][117][118][119][120][121][122][123][124][125][126][127][128].…”