HP9 Environmental Assessment, Environmental Toxicology
D137-140
1:20 PM - 5:20 PM, Thursday
() Characterization of pharmaceutical compounds and macroinvertebrate communities in the Blue River Basin, Kansas City, USA.
Wilkison, D1, Armstrong, D1, Poulton, B2, Cahill, J3, Zaugg, S3, 1 U.S. Geological-WRD, Kansas City Subdistrict, Kansas City, MO, usa2 U.S. Geological-BRD, Columbia Environmental Research Cent., Columbia, MO, USA3 U.S. Geological-WRD, NWQL Methods Development, Denver, CO, USA
ABSTRACT- Pharmaceutical, organic wastewater compounds, and hormonally-active substances directly associated with human activity were monitored in the Blue River Basin, metropolitan Kansas City, USA, from 1998 to 2003. Samples were collected from surface water (lentic and lotic reaches), bottom sediments, treated and untreated wastewater. A genotypic-based microbial source tracking method (rep-PCR) was used to confirm the presence of human-derived E. coli bacteria in selected stream samples. Macroinvertebrate bioassessments were conducted to assess the relative biological condition of stream sites. Detection frequencies of pharmaceutical compounds from stream samples collected in the basin generally were 2 to 3 times greater than the rate reported in a national (USA) stream reconnaissance, primarily because of the preponderance of point sources in the Blue River Basin. Selected compounds, notably caffeine, cotinine, the antimicrobial triclosan, and metabolites of detergent surfactants were detected in more than 75 percent of surface-water samples analyzed. More than one-half of the stream samples had detections of acetaminophen, sulfamethoxazole, trimethoprim, and carbemazapine. As well, approximately 25 percent of the stream samples analyzed had detectable concentrations of diltiazem, cimetidine, clarithromycin, codeine, and ibuprofen. The potential for the development of antibiotic resistant human E. coli bacteria within the environment was indicated because detectable concentrations of human antibiotics and antimicrobial compounds were observed in stream samples that also had from 25-90 percent human-derived E. coli. Temporal and spatial variations in loadings of pharmaceuticals and organic wastewater compounds were primarily related to the sites proximity to wastewater effluent discharge points and stream flow characteristics. Point-sources dominated sites typically had order of magnitude greater concentrations and contaminant loadings than sites dominated by non-point sources. Eleven sites were sampled to evaluate relative biological condition between sites. Sites were rated and grouped into categories using combinations of 22 macroinvertebrate metrics. Sites with the lowest scores had the highest degree of influence from urban runoff, municipal effluent discharge, or both.
Key words: macroinvertebrates, pharmacueticals, organic wastewater compounds, microbial source tracking