Distribution and Transport of Emerging Contaminants in Streams

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Adding Rhodamine WT dye to Fourmile Creek, IA, during a dye-tracing test to determine the distribution and transport of emerging contaminants in streams

Discharge from a wastewater treatment plant on Fourmile Creek, IA. USGS scientists have been studying the fate and transport of emerging contaminants in the Creek

Wastewater treatment plant in the Fourmile Creek, IA, watershed. The discharge from plants such as this one are potential sources of emerging contaminants in streams

A view of Fourmile Creek, IA, at the upper end of the reach where USGS scientists studied the fate of emerging contaminants in the stream

USGS technician measuring the discharge of Fourmile Creek, IA, using standard USGS techniques during a dye-tracing test

Collecting discharge data for Fourmile Creek, IA, to be used in calculating the loads of emerging contaminants in the stream

Downloading water-quality data from a multiparameter sonde onto a field computer during an investigation of the fate of emerging contaminants in Fourmile Creek, IA

The lower end of the Fourmile Creek, IA, study reach where USGS scientists investigated the processes that control the distribution of emerging contaminants in the stream

A view of Boulder Creek, CO, at the 75th Street Bridge just downstream of where a wastewater treatment plant discharges effluent into the stream

USGS technician measuring streamflow in Bolder Creek, CO, near the 75th Street Bridge site during an investigation of the fate of emerging contaminants in streams

USGS scientists cleaning sample-processing equipment prior to taking a water sample from Bounder Creek, CO

USGS scientists collecting water-quality samples for the analysis of emerging contaminants, Boulder Creek, CO

Collecting a depth-integrated water sample from Boulder Creek, CO, using the equal-width-increment (EWI ) method

The scientist on the right is holding a 3-liter polytetrafluoroethylene bottle used to composite the depth-integrated samples being collected by the scientist on the left, Boulder Creek, CO. The composite sample consists of multiple depth-integrated samples collected from the stream cross section

The scientists are transferring one of several depth-integrated samples collected from Boulder Creek, CO, into a 3-liter polytetrafluoroethylene storage bottle

USGS scientists are preparing a cone splitter that is used to separate a composite sample into several subsamples. Each subsample will be analyzed for a suite of emerging contaminants, such as pharmaceuticals and antibiotics, that may be present in Boulder Creek, CO