A major thrust of the Toxic Substances Hydrology (Toxics) Program is to conduct large-scale reconnaissance studies of new contaminants. Reconnaissance studies take a first look at the occurrence and distribution of new contaminants in the environment. New contaminants are chemical substances that have not been extensively studied in the environment before, compounds where analytical methods for measuring relevant concentrations in the environment have just been developed, or newly manufactured compounds that are being introduced into the environment. The scale of these studies varies from multi-state areas to large watersheds, such as the Mississippi River, to the entire Nation. The Toxics Program has conducted reconnaissance studies of the occurrence and distribution of contaminants in rivers and streams, surface-water reservoirs, ground water, and precipitation. The information from these studies is used by water resource managers and environmental regulators to develop sound policies regarding the occurrence and distribution of new contaminants. The information presented on this page cuts across lines drawn by individual investigations and projects so that information from reconnaissance studies can be presented in one place.

Investigations and Research Activities

• Herbicides and Other Agricultural Chemicals -- Midwest Cornbelt
• Cotton Agriculture – Southern United States
• National Streambed-Sediment Reconnaissance for Emerging Contaminants Project
• National Source-Water Reconnaissance for Emerging Contaminants Project
• National Ground-Water Reconnaissance for Emerging Contaminants Project
• National Stream Reconnaissance for Emerging Contaminants Project
• Smaller-Scale Reconnaissance Projects on Emerging Contaminants
• Water Resources of Colorado
• Upper Chattahoochee River Basin, Georgia
• Iowa Urban Centers
• Select Surface and Wastewater Sites, Iowa
• Water Resources of Minnesota
• Blue River Basin, Missouri and Kansas
• Platte River, Nebraska
• Stillwater Basin, Ohio
• Effect of Mercury on Aquatic Ecosystems
• Nonpoint-Source Ground-Water Contamination in Relation to Land Use Completed

Fact Sheets

• Pharmaceuticals, Hormones, and Other Organic Wastewater Contaminants in U.S. Streams: USGS Fact Sheet FS-027-02
• Occurrence of Antibiotics in Water from Fish Hatcheries: USGS Fact Sheet FS-120-02
• Wastewater Chemicals in Colorado's Streams and Ground Water, USGS Survey Fact Sheet FS-2004-3127
• Is Septic Waste Affecting Drinking Water from Shallow Domestic Wells Along the Platte River in Eastern Nebraska?, USGS Fact Sheet FS-072-03
• Nitrogen in the Mississippi Basin--Estimating Sources and Predicting Flux to the Gulf of Mexico: USGS Fact Sheet FS-135-00
• Herbicides in Midwestern reservoir outflows, 1992-93: USGS Fact Sheet FS-134-98
• Herbicides in Ground Water of the Midwest--A Regional Study of Shallow Aquifers, 1991-94: USGS fact Sheet FS-076-98
• A Reconnaissance for Sulfonylurea Herbicides in Waters of the Midwestern USA: An Example of Collaboration Between the Public and Private Sectors: USGS Fact Sheet FS-046-98
• Occurrence of Cotton Pesticides in Surface Water of the Mississippi Embayment: USGS Fact Sheet FS-022-98
• Herbicides in Rainfall Across the Midwestern and Northeastern United States, 1990-91: USGS Fact Sheet FS-181-97
• Agricultural chemicals in Iowa's ground water, 1982-95 -- What are the trends?: USGS Fact Sheet FS-116-97

The USGS sampled 52 sites on Midwestern streams during post-application runoff in 1989, 1990, 1994, 1995, and 1998 as part of a reconnaissance of herbicide concentrations in streams.
(Click on Image for a Larger Version)

Bibliography

• Publications on Contaminant Occurrence Studies (311 Publications)

Headlines

• Emerging Contaminants Targeted in a Reconnaissance of Ground Water and Untreated Drinking-Water Sources
• A Decade of Research on the Occurrence of Triazine Herbicides in the Environment Leads to a Unique Summary
• Developing Methods to Measure New Contaminants in Aquatic Environments
• Veterinary Medicines in the Environment
• Glyphosate Herbicide Found in Many Midwestern Streams, Antibiotics Not Common
• National Reconnaissance of Pharmaceuticals, Hormones and Other Organic Wastewater Contaminants in U.S. Streams is Making an Impact
• Tracking Atrazine and a Breakdown Product (deethylatrazine) through a Drinking-Water Reservoir
• "National Reconnaissance of Pharmaceuticals, Hormones, and Other Organic Wastewater Contaminants in Streams" Named as One of the Top 100 Science Stories of the Year
• Parasite infection linked to amphibian malformations in the western United States
• What's in Our Wastewaters and Where Does it Go?
• Mercury-Contaminated Fish--Is it Old or New Mercury?
• USGS Leads a National Study on Hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico
• Measuring Pesticides and How They Transform in the Environment
• Management Practices a Factor in Herbicide Declines
• Degradates: A Key to Assessing Herbicide Impacts in Streams
• Where are the Pesticides?

Experienced personnel use proven methods that enable representative environmental samples to be collected from a well in the well network for the National Ground-Water Reconnaissance for Emerging Contaminants in the Environment Investigation

As part of the USGS’s national reconnaissance of the occurrence of emerging contaminants in source waters, scientists collected water samples near intake structures for water-supply plants. Here a USGS technician on a water-quality sampling boat is operating a crane with a water-quality sampler attached -- Duck River, TN