Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Science Team
The Team Studies Toxicants and Pathogens in Drinking Water
To understand if and when humans are exposed
The Team Studies Toxicants and Pathogens in Streams
To understand if and when wildlife are exposed
The Team Studies Toxicant and Pathogen Sources and Movement
The Team Develops Tools to Understand Health Effects
The team studies toxicants and pathogens in water resources from their sources, through watersheds, aquifers, and infrastructure to human and wildlife exposures. That information is used to develop decision tools that protect human and wildlife health.
Americans rely on treatment of drinking water and wastewater, and the maintenance of water distribution infrastructure to assure safe water supplies for the public and wildlife. New chemicals are manufactured and used every day. Populations grow and demographics shift. Treatment, conveyance and plumbing infrastructure ages, and new technologies are developed to detect contaminants (toxicants and pathogens) at low levels. Consequently, questions arise about the health effects of exposure to contaminants indivually or in complex mixtures.
The US Geological Survey’s Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Science Team provides information on processes that affect contaminants as they move from naturally occurring and human-caused sources through aquifers, aquatic environments, and infrastructure. This comprehensive understanding of contaminant profiles from source to exposure is used to develop decision tools to economically, effectively, and efficiently reduce wildlife or human exposure and associated health risks.
The Team prioritizes science in underserved urban and rural agricultural communities and in tribal nations, which are disproportionally impacted by geologic and climatic events, by drinking-water source limitations and resultant dependence on water-reuse and unregulated/unmonitored private-wells.
More Information
Date Visualization: "Drop by Drop" and "PFAS Interactive Tool"
GeoHEALTH–USGS Newsletter-Special Issue on Drinking Water
![Cutaway illustration of contaminant sources and exposure pathways](https://d9-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/styles/full_width/public/thumbnails/image/water_diagram_v3.6.png?itok=Xi0B46jP)
![faucet](https://d9-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/styles/half_width/public/thumbnails/image/bathroom-black-and-white-blur-615326_0.jpg?itok=6pExmJ5B)
Questions That the Team Answers:
- Is treated wastewater effluent a source of contaminants to streams that serve as source water for publicly and self-supplied drinking water supplies?
- What contaminants are in tap waters from publicly and self-supplied drinking water sources?
- What factors influence the types of contaminants that are present in tap water?
- Are there hazards to fish and wildlife associated with exposure to low-levels of contaminants in streams that receive wastewater?
- What mitigation actions are the most efficient and cost effective at reducing exposure at the tap for humans? Or in water resources for wildlife?
- Can decision tools be established to to define, prioritize and mitigate human and wildlife health risks?
USGS featured science articles related to this science team’s activities.
Study Highlights the Complexity of Chemical Mixtures in United States Streams
Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances From Firefighting and Domestic Wastewater Remain in Groundwater for Decades
Understanding Chemical and Microbial Contaminants in Public Drinking Water
Recovery of Stream and Adjacent Groundwater After Wastewater Treatment Facility Closure
Distinct Microbiomes Identified in Landfills Throughout the United States
Complex Mixtures, Complex Responses—Using Comprehensive Approaches to Assess Pharmaceutical Effects on Fish
Landfill Leachate Released to Wastewater Treatment Plants and other Environmental Pathways Contains a Mixture of Contaminants including Pharmaceuticals
Long-Term Study Finds Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals in Urban Waterways
Assessing Environmental Chemical Mixtures in United States Streams
Personal Care Products, Pharmaceuticals, and Hormones Move from Septic Systems to Local Groundwater
Contaminant Transport Models Aid in Understanding Trends of Chlorinated Ethenes in Public Supply Wells
Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals Persist Downstream from the Source
USGS data releases associated with this science team.
Pesticide and transformation product concentrations and risk quotients in U.S. headwater streams
Cyanotoxin Concentration and Phytoplankton Community Composition Data for Surface Water Samples Collected at Lake Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge, North Carolina during summer 2015
Target-Chemical Concentrations in Landfill Leachate and Wastewater Treatment Influent and Effluent
Influence of dissolved organic carbon on the acute toxicity of copper and zinc to white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) and the cladoceran (Ceriodaphnia dubia)
Pesticides and Pharmaceutical Exposure Data for Select Protected Streams of the US National Park Service Southeast Region 2015-2017
Assessment of Endocrine Disruption in the Shenandoah River Watershed - Chemical and Biological Data from Mobile Laboratory Fish Exposures and Other Experiments Conducted during 2014, 2015, and 2016
Concentrations and associated method information for trace and major elements in Fourmile Creek near Ankeny, Iowa, USA during the 2011-2014 wastewater treatment facility pre/post-closure assessment
Geochemical Composition of Urban Stormwater Runoff Within the Conterminous United States from Samples Collected in 2016-2017
Mixed Organic and Inorganic Tapwater Results in the Greater Chicago Area, USA, 2017-2019
Chemical-Gene and Chemical-Pathway Interactions Predicted for Chemicals Detected in the USGS-USEPA National Streams Pilot Study Based on Effects Data in the Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD)
Concentrations of Chlorinated Ethene Compounds in Rock Core Collected from the Mudstone Underlying the former Naval Air Warfare Center, West Trenton, New Jersey
Seasonal and spatial variation in the location and reactivity of a nitrate-contaminated groundwater discharge zone in a lakebed
USGS publications associated with this science team.
Food, beverage, and feedstock processing facility wastewater: A unique and underappreciated source of contaminants to U.S. streams
Integrated science for the study of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the environment—A strategic science vision for the U.S. Geological Survey
Assessing the ecological functionality and integrity of natural ponds, excavated ponds and stormwater basins for conserving amphibian diversity
Tandem field and laboratory approaches to quantify attenuation mechanisms of pharmaceutical and pharmaceutical transformation products in a wastewater effluent-dominated stream
Temporal variations of de facto wastewater reuse and disinfection by-products in public water systems in the Shenandoah River watershed, USA
Multiple in-stream stressors degrade biological assemblages in five U.S. regions
Is there an urban pesticide signature? Urban streams in five U.S. regions share common dissolved-phase pesticides but differ in predicted aquatic toxicity
Untargeted lipidomics for determining cellular and sub-cellular responses in Zebrafish (Danio rerio) liver cells following exposure to complex mixtures in U.S. streams
Identifying chemicals and mixtures of potential biological concern detected in passive samplers from Great Lakes tributaries using high-throughput data and biological pathways
Pilot-scale expanded assessment of inorganic and organic tapwater exposures and predicted effects in Puerto Rico, USA
Emerging investigator series: Municipal wastewater as a year-round point source of neonicotinoid insecticides that persist in an effluent-dominated stream
Reconnaissance of cumulative risk of pesticides and pharmaceuticals in Great Smoky Mountains National Park streams
The team studies toxicants and pathogens in water resources from their sources, through watersheds, aquifers, and infrastructure to human and wildlife exposures. That information is used to develop decision tools that protect human and wildlife health.
Americans rely on treatment of drinking water and wastewater, and the maintenance of water distribution infrastructure to assure safe water supplies for the public and wildlife. New chemicals are manufactured and used every day. Populations grow and demographics shift. Treatment, conveyance and plumbing infrastructure ages, and new technologies are developed to detect contaminants (toxicants and pathogens) at low levels. Consequently, questions arise about the health effects of exposure to contaminants indivually or in complex mixtures.
The US Geological Survey’s Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Science Team provides information on processes that affect contaminants as they move from naturally occurring and human-caused sources through aquifers, aquatic environments, and infrastructure. This comprehensive understanding of contaminant profiles from source to exposure is used to develop decision tools to economically, effectively, and efficiently reduce wildlife or human exposure and associated health risks.
The Team prioritizes science in underserved urban and rural agricultural communities and in tribal nations, which are disproportionally impacted by geologic and climatic events, by drinking-water source limitations and resultant dependence on water-reuse and unregulated/unmonitored private-wells.
More Information
Date Visualization: "Drop by Drop" and "PFAS Interactive Tool"
GeoHEALTH–USGS Newsletter-Special Issue on Drinking Water
![Cutaway illustration of contaminant sources and exposure pathways](https://d9-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/styles/full_width/public/thumbnails/image/water_diagram_v3.6.png?itok=Xi0B46jP)
![faucet](https://d9-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/styles/half_width/public/thumbnails/image/bathroom-black-and-white-blur-615326_0.jpg?itok=6pExmJ5B)
Questions That the Team Answers:
- Is treated wastewater effluent a source of contaminants to streams that serve as source water for publicly and self-supplied drinking water supplies?
- What contaminants are in tap waters from publicly and self-supplied drinking water sources?
- What factors influence the types of contaminants that are present in tap water?
- Are there hazards to fish and wildlife associated with exposure to low-levels of contaminants in streams that receive wastewater?
- What mitigation actions are the most efficient and cost effective at reducing exposure at the tap for humans? Or in water resources for wildlife?
- Can decision tools be established to to define, prioritize and mitigate human and wildlife health risks?
USGS featured science articles related to this science team’s activities.
Study Highlights the Complexity of Chemical Mixtures in United States Streams
Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances From Firefighting and Domestic Wastewater Remain in Groundwater for Decades
Understanding Chemical and Microbial Contaminants in Public Drinking Water
Recovery of Stream and Adjacent Groundwater After Wastewater Treatment Facility Closure
Distinct Microbiomes Identified in Landfills Throughout the United States
Complex Mixtures, Complex Responses—Using Comprehensive Approaches to Assess Pharmaceutical Effects on Fish
Landfill Leachate Released to Wastewater Treatment Plants and other Environmental Pathways Contains a Mixture of Contaminants including Pharmaceuticals
Long-Term Study Finds Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals in Urban Waterways
Assessing Environmental Chemical Mixtures in United States Streams
Personal Care Products, Pharmaceuticals, and Hormones Move from Septic Systems to Local Groundwater
Contaminant Transport Models Aid in Understanding Trends of Chlorinated Ethenes in Public Supply Wells
Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals Persist Downstream from the Source
USGS data releases associated with this science team.
Pesticide and transformation product concentrations and risk quotients in U.S. headwater streams
Cyanotoxin Concentration and Phytoplankton Community Composition Data for Surface Water Samples Collected at Lake Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge, North Carolina during summer 2015
Target-Chemical Concentrations in Landfill Leachate and Wastewater Treatment Influent and Effluent
Influence of dissolved organic carbon on the acute toxicity of copper and zinc to white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) and the cladoceran (Ceriodaphnia dubia)
Pesticides and Pharmaceutical Exposure Data for Select Protected Streams of the US National Park Service Southeast Region 2015-2017
Assessment of Endocrine Disruption in the Shenandoah River Watershed - Chemical and Biological Data from Mobile Laboratory Fish Exposures and Other Experiments Conducted during 2014, 2015, and 2016
Concentrations and associated method information for trace and major elements in Fourmile Creek near Ankeny, Iowa, USA during the 2011-2014 wastewater treatment facility pre/post-closure assessment
Geochemical Composition of Urban Stormwater Runoff Within the Conterminous United States from Samples Collected in 2016-2017
Mixed Organic and Inorganic Tapwater Results in the Greater Chicago Area, USA, 2017-2019
Chemical-Gene and Chemical-Pathway Interactions Predicted for Chemicals Detected in the USGS-USEPA National Streams Pilot Study Based on Effects Data in the Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD)
Concentrations of Chlorinated Ethene Compounds in Rock Core Collected from the Mudstone Underlying the former Naval Air Warfare Center, West Trenton, New Jersey
Seasonal and spatial variation in the location and reactivity of a nitrate-contaminated groundwater discharge zone in a lakebed
USGS publications associated with this science team.