The drinking water and wastewater cycles are integrally linked.  Chemicals that are present in household wastewater may be sufficiently mobile and persistent to survive on-site or municipal wastewater treatment and post-discharge environmental processes.  Such compounds have the potential to reach surface and ground waters which can be the sources of drinking water.  To determine which wastewater chemicals persist through drinking water treatment, a joint USEPA / USGS study examined source and treated drinking waters from 25 drinking water treatment plants from across the United States.  All water samples were analyzed for over 250 different contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), including pharmaceuticals, perfluorinated chemicals, hormones, wastewater indicators, trace elements, bacteria, protozoa and viruses.  The sample collection was designed to account for residence time within the plant in order to match waters before and after treatment.  The participating utilities utilized a mix of surface and ground water sources, and used a variety of disinfectants (chlorine, chloramine, with some using additional advanced treatment such as ozone and UV).  Of the 250 analytes, 165 were detected at least once in the source water, and 134 were detected at least once in the treated water.    At least 30 analytes were detected in every sample.  The median number of detections was 60 in source water and 47 in treated water.  Disclaimer: Although this work was reviewed and approved by the USEPA, it may not necessarily reflect official Agency policy.

Chemical and microbial contaminants of emerging concern in source and treated drinking water

246th National Meeting (2013)

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