The pace of chemical product development has outstripped advances in waste treatment practice, and national regulations governing treatment and disposal of �emerging� contaminants in municipal wastewaters do not exist in the United States (Ferrer et al., 2003, Richardson et al., 2006,). These chemicals include a diverse collection of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) at sub-part-per-billion levels that are sometimes poorly attenuated during conventional wastewater treatment (Jobling et al., 1998, Robinson et al., 2005, Quinn et al., 2009). A subset, the endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs), is responsible for widely acknowledged environmental impacts (Buser et al., 1999,Boreen et al., 2003, Lam et al., 2003,).  Attempts to link chronic exposure to EDCs to incidences of breast and testicular cancers are less convincing (Herberer et al., 2002, Snyder et al., 2006, Belong et al, 2009). Micropollutants in treated wastewater affect decisions regarding acceptable reuse applications and use-specific treatment requirements.  Simultaneous measurement of numerous trace organic contaminants at part-per-trillion concentrations in water has become commonplace. Nevertheless, the number of analytes potentially present in chemically complex samples makes it necessary to focus on indicator organics that are frequently present at concentrations well above their respective detection limits in waters impacted by municipal effluent. These can be selected to provide a breadth of physical characteristics and hence breadth in response to engineered and natural attenuation mechanisms. Here we use contemporary surface water samples from waters supplying potable sources to assess the ability of in-stream processes to attenuate a suite of representative trace organic contaminants during surface flow and provide a basis for selection of indicator compounds. A mass balance approach supports speculation regarding removal mechanisms/persistence for individual contaminants.

Modelling fate and transport of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in the Santa Cruz River in Tucson, Arizona

245th National Meeting (2013)

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