Organic wastewater compounds, pharmaceuticals, and coliphage in ground water receiving discharge from onsite wastewater treatment systems near La Pine, Oregon: Occurrence and implications for transport

Abstract

The occurrence of organic wastewater compounds (components of "personal care products" and other common household chemicals), pharmaceuticals (human prescription and nonprescription medical drugs), and coliphage (viruses that infect coliform bacteria, and found in high concentrations in municipal wastewater) in onsite wastewater (septic tank effluent) and in a shallow, unconfined, sandy aquifer that serves as the primary source of drinking water for most residents near La Pine, Oregon, was documented. Samples from two types of observation networks provided basic occurrence data for onsite wastewater and downgradient ground water. One observation network was a group of 28 traditional and innovative (advanced treatment) onsite wastewater treatment systems and associated downgradient drainfield monitoring wells, referred to as the "innovative systems network." The drainfield monitoring wells were located adjacent to or under onsite wastewater treatment system drainfield lines. Another observation network, termed the "transect network," consisted of 31 wells distributed among three transects of temporary, stainless-steelscreened, direct-push monitoring wells installed along three plumes of onsite wastewater. The transect network, by virtue of its design, also provided a basis for increased understanding of the transport of analytes in natural systems. Coliphage were frequently detected in onsite wastewater. Coliphage concentrations in onsite wastewater were highly variable, and ranged from less than 1 to 3,000,000 plaque forming units per 100 milliliters. Coliphage were occasionally detected (eight occurrences) at low concentrations in samples from wells located downgradient from onsite wastewater treatment system drainfield lines. However, coliphage concentrations were below method detection limits in replicate or repeat samples collected from the eight sites. The consistent absence of coliphage detections in the replicate or repeat samples is interpreted to indicate that the detections reported for groundwater samples represented low-level field or laboratory contamination, and it would appear that coliphage were effectively 120 μg/L (acetaminophen). In downgradient groundwater samples, sulfamethoxazole (an antibacterial), acetaminophen (an analgesic), and caffeine (a stimulant, and not a medical drug) each were detected once, at concentrations between 0.10 μg/L and 0.18 μg/L-typical of the range of concentrations observed in other studies of wastewater-impacted ground water. In addition to the readily identified pharmaceuticals, two pharmaceuticals-the anticonvulsant drugs primidone and phenobarbitol-were tentatively identified in three groundwater samples from one nest of wells at another transect. Tentative identification of primidone and phenobarbitol occurred during analysis of groundwater samples for organic wastewater compounds; chromatogram peaks not associated with the target organic wastewater compounds were observed and the mass spectra of the unidentified compounds were matched to known mass spectra in ...

Emerging organic contaminants in groundwater: A review of sources, fate and occurrence

“…The major source of analgesics and antiinflammatories was from waste water, including bank infiltration, artificial recharge, leakage from urban sewage systems, septic tanks (e.g. Heberer et al, 1997;Heberer, 2002Hinkle et al, 2005;Verstraeten et al, 2005;Ellis, 2006;Carrara et al, 2007).…”

“…The major source of analgesics and antiinflammatories was from waste water, including bank infiltration, artificial recharge, leakage from urban sewage systems, septic tanks (e.g. Heberer et al, 1997;Heberer, 2002Hinkle et al, 2005;Verstraeten et al, 2005;Ellis, 2006;Carrara et al, 2007).The three most commonly reported antibiotics were found to occur in the following order of maximum concentration, triclosan (n=6) > sulfamethoxazole (n=15) > lincomycin (n=5), in addition erythromycin was reported in three different case studies. The maximum concentrations for antibiotics were reported in the range 5.7-2 x 10 3 ng/L, with the major sources being waste water sources, landfills, septic tanks and animal waste lagoons (e.g.…”

Aquifer-scale controls on the distribution of nitrate and ammonium in ground water near La Pine, Oregon, USA

“…A shallow, sandy aquifer serves as both source of drinking water and receptor of septic tank effluent for most residents. Most houses in this semiarid environment are surrounded by semidesert landscaping, and agricultural activities are almost nonexistent (Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, 1994;Hinkle et al, 2005). Fertilizer use is minimal, and septic tank effluent is the only important anthropogenic source of N to study area ground water (Century West Engineering Corporation, 1982).…”

Fate of trace organic compounds during vadose zone soil treatment in an onsite wastewater system

“…High removal efficiencies for trace organic compounds in the soil treatment component of OWTS have been observed in operating systems [7][8][9]. However, some consumer product chemicals and pharmaceuticals have been measured in groundwater below and down gradient of OWTS [3,4,10], indicating a need for a quantitative understanding of the fate of trace organic compounds in soil treatment units receiving onsite wastewater effluents.…”