What Are We Doing Now?

To Measure Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Environment.

Approaches to Emerging Chemicals Issues Workshop March 1, 2005

Herb Buxton

Coordinator, Toxic Substances

Hydrology Program

Key Questions• How do we decide which chemicals to measure?

• How do we assure a representative measurement?

• How do we decide where to look in the environment?

• How do we decide which environmental media to sample (water, sediment, tissue,…).

• How do we decide what to monitor?

How do we decide which chemicals to measure?

• Mass produced/Quantities used.• Manner used & release pathways.• Anticipated environmental behavior.• Health significance. • Ability to measure. • Potential as indicators/tracers.• Stakeholder priorities.

The Catch! Why are you studying this compound if you don’t know if it’s a health risk?

Health effects information to guide environmental occurrence studies.

Environmental occurrence information to guide health effects studies.

Gadolinium complex of diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid

MRI Contrast Agent

(Gromet and others, 1984; Bau and Dulski, 1996; Möller and others, 2002; Verplanck and others, 2003)

The Gadolinium Anomaly

Distance (km)

Fourmile Creek Gd Conc (µg/L)

-0.1 km = 0.004 0.0 km = 0.05710.6 km = 0.047

Boulder CreekGd Conc (µg/L)

-0.1 km = 0.002 0.0 km = 0.15010.6 km = 0.041

Unpublished/Provisional Data

Distance (km)

158 Compounds in Water

• 45 Antibiotics

• 12 Prescription Drugs

• 8 Nonprescription Drugs

• 14 Hormones and Steroids

• 79 Household and Industrial Compounds

83 Compounds in Sediment

• 3 Antibiotics

• 12 Prescription Drugs

• 7 Nonprescription Drugs

• 61 Household and Industrial Compounds

USGS Analytical Capabilities

How do we assure a representative measurement?• Consistent field protocols.

• Field Quality Assurance.

• Laboratory QA.

• Agregate QA datasets.

• Interlab comparison & coordination.

How do we decide where to look in the environment?

Investigating Source Pathways for Environmental Release

Testing for Environmental Occurrence

Are contaminants entering our aquatic environments ?

At what Levels?

In what Mixtures?

Stream Recon 99-00

GW Recon 00-01

springsumpwell

Looking in Urban and Agricultural areas.

• WWTF

• CSOs

• ISDS

• Industrial Disch.

• Landfills

• Water Reuse.

Human Waste Pathways

• Animal Feeding Operations Waste lagoons Land application

• Processing

Animal Waste PathwaysManure (kg/day)

Human 1.5 Cow 30 Hog 4 Sheep 1.5 Chicken 0.14

Source Characterization Studies

Liquid and Solid Waste

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

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Per

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Water (30) Sediment (36)

How do we decide which environmental media to sample?

Stream Water g/L

(n=44)

Streambed Sediment g/kg (n=44)

Irrigated Soils(Reclaimed

water) g/kg (n=108)

Biosolidsg/kg (n=6)

Cotinine 0.03 0.51 0.07 21.04

Albuterol 0.03 0 ND 29.68

Cimetidine 0.11 2.45 ND 44.98

Acetaminophen 0.06 0.27 0.37 122.42

1,7-dimethylxanthine 0.75 0.09 ND 1333.34

Trimethoprim 0.11 1.22 0.03 11.81

Diltiazem 0.03 1.6 0.03 23.92

Fluoxetine 0 1.84 0.13 37.38

Gemfibrozil ND 20.35 ND 235.16

Caffeine 0.42 10.87 0.14 242.39

Sulfamethoxazole 0.16 1.08 0.35 162.25

Dehydronifedipine 0.01 1.79 0.05 16.75

Codeine 0.07 0.7 ND 10.12

Thiabendazole 0.01 4.86 0.07 6.55

Diphenhydramine 0.06 15.58 0.05 164.75

Erythromycin ND 5.87 3.03 5

Carbamazapine 0.06 4.16 0.33 20.89

Miconazole ND 2.99 0.04 198.98

Warfarin ND 0.69 0.15 31.87

EC Conc.’s by Matrix (Average Detection)

How do we decide what to monitor?

Transport

Transformation

Persistence

Fate

Health Effects-Ecological

-Human(Barber and others, 1995)

Base from U.S. Geological Survey digital data;1:100,000, 1985Universal Transverse Mercator projection, Zone 15

¯

Explanation

Municipal areas

Drainage-basin boundary

Fourmile Creek

Highways

! Water-quality site and site number

# Water-quality and fish-collection site and site number

" Fish-collection site and site number

05485603 (site 1)

05485604 (site 2)

05485600 (site 0)

0 1 2 Miles

0 1 2 Kilometers

Site Water Sediment # (g/L) (g/kg)

2 3.1 2000(0 km)

4 0.7 580(2.9 km)

5 0.4 200(8.4 km)

Tonalide (musk) in Fourmile Creek, IA

1 0.021 <25(-0.1 km)

Fourmile Ck Tracer TestLeading Edge

Peak

Trailing Edge

Dye Injection

Watershed Study - Boulder Creek, CO- Hormone levels elevated downstream of WWTP

- Fish community and fish health assessment being conducted (USGS / University of Colorado)

Unpublished/Provisional Data

<0.8

2.1

1.4

2.9

1.2

E2 Concentrations, ng/L

External Deformities

Abnormal BloodChemistry

Abnormal Gonad Development

Cellular Abnormalities

Biomarkers of Endocrine Disruption in Fish

male

female

The USGS Toxics Program: toxics.usgs.gov

Emerging Water Quality Issues: toxics.usgs.gov/regional/emc.html

Acknowledgements

Field expertise in 50 District (state) Offices.

Dana Kolpin, Iowa City IA dwkolpin@usgs.govEd Furlong, Denver COLarry Barber, Boulder COMike Meyer, Lawrence KSSteve Zaugg, Denver CO

James Gray, Boulder COSheridan Haack, Lansing MIKymm Barnes, Iowa City IAColleen Rostad, Denver COMike Focazio, Reston VAMelissa Schultz, Denver CO