GeoHEALTH—USGS Newsletter, July 2023
The GeoHEALTH–USGS Newsletter—published since 2004 by the USGS Environmental Health Program—provides information on new USGS science activities pertinent to safeguarding the health of fish, wildlife, domesticated animals, livestock, and people from environmental exposures to contaminants and pathogens.
Tap water study detects PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ across the US
At least 45% of the nation’s tap water is estimated to have one or more types of the chemicals known as per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances, or PFAS, according to a new study by the U.S. Geological Survey. There are more than 12,000 types of PFAS, not all of which can be detected with current tests; the USGS study tested for the presence of 32 types.
Collaborative Science Provides Understanding of Contaminants in Bottled Water-an Increasingly Common Alternate Drinking Water Source
U.S. Geological Survey researchers and public health experts collaborated to determine what contaminants occur in bottled water, which is an increasingly common alternate drinking water source, to broaden their understanding of human exposure to contaminants in drinking water supply chains. Bottled water, like public-supply and private-well tap water supply chains, contained multiple organic, inorganic, and microbial contaminants indicating that all three drinking-water supply chains have similar challenges of contaminants in their source waters and at the point of use and exposure.
USGS Scientists Develop an Interactive Mapping Tool to Visualize PFAS in Tap Water
A new interactive dashboard is available to visualize PFAS measurements for 716 tap water samples collected at select sites across the nation between 2016 and 2021 from private and public supplies.
Environmental Health Program's One Health Approach
recognizes the interdependence of human and animal health and the health of ecosystems that they share.
Unique Approach to Measure Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances Uptake in Fish, Mussels, and Passive Samplers
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) uptake and bioconcentration by fish and mussels ─ housed in mobile laboratories at a legacy fire-training area contaminated by aqueous film-forming foams ─ varied by species, sex, and compound. PFAS in passive samplers deployed at the same time mimicked uptake by fish but not mussels indicating that passive samplers might prove useful as screening tools for PFAS that bioconcentrate in fish and provide an understanding of the PFAS exposure for wildlife and humans through consumption.
Organic Contaminants in Reuse Waters and Transport Following Land Application
Potential reuse waters contained unique mixtures of organic contaminants with the greatest number detected in treated municipal wastewater treatment plant effluent, followed by urban stormwater, and agricultural runoff. This study provided information for decisions on reuse strategies to support freshwater supplies.
A Farewell but not a Goodbye to a Civil Servant that Never Wavered on her Dedication to the Environment
Kathy Lee, a Deputy Program Coordinator for the Toxic Substances Hydrology Program within the Environmental Health Program, retired at the end of July. Her work with NAWQA as an ecologist, author of the GeoHealth Newsletter, archivist for the programs bibliography, mentor and resource will make a lasting impression in the Environmental Health community.
Environmental Health Program at the U.S. Geological Survey
One Health science to address high priority issues related to human and wildlife exposures to environmental contaminants and pathogens
Drop by Drop
US Geological Survey research on contaminants in drinking water across the US.