Dana W Kolpin
Dana Kolpin is a Research Hydrologist, with the Central Midwest Water Science Center in Iowa City, Iowa. Dana started his career with the USGS in 1984. His research interests include the fate, transport, and effects of environmental contaminants (e.g. pesticides, human and veterinary pharmaceuticals, hormones, etc.) in the environment.
Dana was the project lead of the USGS Toxic Program’s CECs in the Environment Project for its entire history (1998 – 2017). He is now project lead of the USGS Toxic Program’s newly formed Food Project (i.e. understanding the potential for health risks from contaminant exposures associated with production, manufacturing, use, and consumption of food, beverage, and feedstock products). He has published over 200 papers and reports on environmental contaminants. His paper "Pharmaceuticals, hormones, and other organic wastewater contaminants in U.S. streams, 1999-2000: A national reconnaissance" was a seminal paper on the occurrence of CECs in water resources, and was the first national-scale study of such compounds conducted in the United States. This paper has become the most heavily cited paper in Environmental Science & Technology history. He has published a diverse array of papers on the topic of environmental contaminants including research on CECs in landfills, changes in stream water chemistry and hydrology related to the closure of a wastewater treatment plant, detection of swine hepatitis E virus in streams, the transport of neonicotinoid insecticides in streams, the uptake of CECs into earthworms and into fish neural tissue, the occurrence of natural toxins (i.e. phytoestrogens and mycotoxins) in streams, and the first ever documentation of the off-field transport on nitrapyrin and herbicide safeners to streams. His most recent research interests include linking tap water quality to human health end points, investigating PFAS exposures in rural settings, determining the prevalence of antibiotic resistance genes in the environment, and understanding chemical and microbial contaminants being discharged into the environment by food and feedstock processing plants.
Education and Certifications
M.S., Geology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
B.S., Geology, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa
Science and Products
Comparison of Predicted and Measured Pharmaceutical Concentrations in Rivers
Occurrence of Avian Influenza Virus in Groundwater—Study Provides Baseline Data and Informs Future Studies
Multi-State Survey Measures Parabens in Municipal Wastewater Biosolids
Understanding Chemical and Microbial Contaminants in Public Drinking Water
Recovery of Stream and Adjacent Groundwater After Wastewater Treatment Facility Closure
Bacterial Pathogen Genes in Streams related to Animal Type and Hydrologic Conditions
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
Pharmaceuticals and Other Chemicals Common in Landfill Waste
Toxins Produced by Molds Measured in U.S. Streams
Biosolids, Animal Manure, and Earthworms: Is There a Connection?
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
Survey of major and trace elements in stormwater runoff from across the United States, 2016 to 2017
Mixed Organic and Inorganic Tapwater Results in the Greater Chicago Area, USA, 2017-2019
Occurrence and Concentrations of Trace Elements in Discrete Tapwater Samples Collected in Chicago, Illinois and East Chicago, Indiana, 2017
Nitrapyrin, 6-CPA, and herbicide concentrations in agricultural soils, subsurface drains, and corresponding streams in the Midwestern US
Hormone, pesticide, pharmaceutical and other organic compound data for select water and bed sediment samples collected in Chesapeake Bay watershed in parts of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia, 2006-2014
Herbicide safeners and associated stream flow for water samples collected across Iowa and Illinois (2016-2017).
Periphyton (1993-2011) and Water Quality (2014) Data for ET&C Article Entitled Spatial and Temporal Variation in Microcystins Occurrence in Wadeable Streams in the Southeastern USA
Juxtaposition of intensive agriculture, vulnerable aquifers, and mixed chemical/microbial exposures in private-well tapwater in northeast Iowa
Contaminant exposure and transport from three potential reuse waters within a single watershed
Wild bee exposure to pesticides in conservation grasslands increases along an agricultural gradient: A tale of two sample types
Pesticide prioritization by potential biological effects in tributaries of the Laurentian Great Lakes
Modeling risk dynamics of contaminants of emerging concern in a temperate-region wastewater effluent-dominated stream
Transcriptome signatures of wastewater effluent exposure in larval zebrafish vary with seasonal mixture composition in an effluent-dominated stream
RNA-seq reveals potential gene biomarkers in fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) for exposure to treated wastewater effluent
Pharmaceutical pollution of the world’s rivers
Watershed-scale risk to aquatic organisms from complex chemical mixtures in the Shenandoah River
Food, beverage, and feedstock processing facility wastewater: A unique and underappreciated source of contaminants to U.S. streams
A comprehensive statewide spatiotemporal stream assessment of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in an agricultural region of the United States
Public concern regarding per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) has grown substantially in recent years. In addition, research has documented multiple potential agriculture-related release pathways for PFAS (e.g., biosolids and livestock manure). Nevertheless, little research on the environmental prevalence of PFAS has been conducted in agricultural regions of the United States. To fill this g
Evidence for interannual persistence of infectious influenza A viruses in Alaska wetlands
Science and Products
Comparison of Predicted and Measured Pharmaceutical Concentrations in Rivers
Occurrence of Avian Influenza Virus in Groundwater—Study Provides Baseline Data and Informs Future Studies
Multi-State Survey Measures Parabens in Municipal Wastewater Biosolids
Understanding Chemical and Microbial Contaminants in Public Drinking Water
Recovery of Stream and Adjacent Groundwater After Wastewater Treatment Facility Closure
Bacterial Pathogen Genes in Streams related to Animal Type and Hydrologic Conditions
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
Pharmaceuticals and Other Chemicals Common in Landfill Waste
Toxins Produced by Molds Measured in U.S. Streams
Biosolids, Animal Manure, and Earthworms: Is There a Connection?
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
Survey of major and trace elements in stormwater runoff from across the United States, 2016 to 2017
Mixed Organic and Inorganic Tapwater Results in the Greater Chicago Area, USA, 2017-2019
Occurrence and Concentrations of Trace Elements in Discrete Tapwater Samples Collected in Chicago, Illinois and East Chicago, Indiana, 2017
Nitrapyrin, 6-CPA, and herbicide concentrations in agricultural soils, subsurface drains, and corresponding streams in the Midwestern US
Hormone, pesticide, pharmaceutical and other organic compound data for select water and bed sediment samples collected in Chesapeake Bay watershed in parts of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia, 2006-2014
Herbicide safeners and associated stream flow for water samples collected across Iowa and Illinois (2016-2017).
Periphyton (1993-2011) and Water Quality (2014) Data for ET&C Article Entitled Spatial and Temporal Variation in Microcystins Occurrence in Wadeable Streams in the Southeastern USA
Juxtaposition of intensive agriculture, vulnerable aquifers, and mixed chemical/microbial exposures in private-well tapwater in northeast Iowa
Contaminant exposure and transport from three potential reuse waters within a single watershed
Wild bee exposure to pesticides in conservation grasslands increases along an agricultural gradient: A tale of two sample types
Pesticide prioritization by potential biological effects in tributaries of the Laurentian Great Lakes
Modeling risk dynamics of contaminants of emerging concern in a temperate-region wastewater effluent-dominated stream
Transcriptome signatures of wastewater effluent exposure in larval zebrafish vary with seasonal mixture composition in an effluent-dominated stream
RNA-seq reveals potential gene biomarkers in fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) for exposure to treated wastewater effluent
Pharmaceutical pollution of the world’s rivers
Watershed-scale risk to aquatic organisms from complex chemical mixtures in the Shenandoah River
Food, beverage, and feedstock processing facility wastewater: A unique and underappreciated source of contaminants to U.S. streams
A comprehensive statewide spatiotemporal stream assessment of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in an agricultural region of the United States
Public concern regarding per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) has grown substantially in recent years. In addition, research has documented multiple potential agriculture-related release pathways for PFAS (e.g., biosolids and livestock manure). Nevertheless, little research on the environmental prevalence of PFAS has been conducted in agricultural regions of the United States. To fill this g