A national reconnaissance for pharmaceuticals and other organic wastewater contaminants in the United States — II) Untreated drinking water sources Michael J. Focazio a, ⁎ , Dana W. Kolpin b , Kimberlee K. Barnes b , Edward T. Furlong c , Michael T. Meyer d , Steven D. Zaugg c , Larry B. Barber e , Michael E. Thurman d a U.S. Geological Survey, Office of Water Quality, MS-412, 12201 Sunrise Valley Dr, Reston, Virginia 20192, United States b U.S. Geological Survey, 400 South Clinton Street, Room 269, Iowa City, Iowa 52244, United States c U.S. Geological Survey, National Water Quality Laboratory, P.O. Box 25046, MS 407, Denver Federal Center, Lakewood, Colorado 80225, United States d U.S. Geological Survey, 4821 Quail Crest Place, Lawrence, Kansas 66049, United States e U.S. Geological Survey, 3215 Marine Street, Boulder, Colorado 80303, United States ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article history: Received 2 November 2007 Received in revised form 31 January 2008 Accepted 5 February 2008 Numerous studies have shown that a variety of manufactured and natural organic compounds such as pharmaceuticals, steroids, surfactants, flame retardants, fragrances, plasticizers and other chemicals often associated with wastewaters have been detected in the vicinity of municipal wastewater discharges and livestock agricultural facilities. To provide new data and insights about the environmental presence of some of these chemicals in untreated sources of drinking water in the United States targeted sites were sampled and analyzed for 100 analytes with sub-parts per billion detection capabilities. The sites included 25 ground- and 49 surface-water sources of drinking water serving populations ranging from one family to over 8 million people. Sixty-three of the 100 targeted chemicals were detected in at least one water sample. Interestingly, in spite of the low detection levels 60% of the 36 pharmaceuticals (including prescription drugs and antibiotics) analyzed were not detected in any water sample. The five most frequently detected chemicals targeted in surface water were: cholesterol (59%, natural sterol), metolachlor (53%, herbicide), cotinine (51%, nicotine metabolite), β-sitosterol (37%, natural plant sterol), and 1,7-dimethylxanthine (27%, caffeine metabolite); and in ground water: tetrachloroethylene (24%, solvent), carbamazepine (20%, pharmaceutical), bisphenol-A (20%, plasticizer), 1,7-dimethylxanthine (16%, caffeine metabolite), and tri (2-chloroethyl) phosphate (12%, fire retardant). A median of 4 compounds were detected per site indicating that the targeted chemicals generally occur in mixtures (commonly near detection levels) in the environment and likely originate from a variety of animal and human uses and waste sources. These data will help prioritize and determine the need, if any, for future occurrence, fate and transport, and health-effects research for subsets of these chemicals and their degradates most likely to be found in water resources used for drinking water in the United States. Published by Elsevier B.V. Keywords: Emerging contaminants Drinking water Organic wastewater compounds Pharmaceuticals Surface water Ground water SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT XX (2008) XXX – XXX ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 703 648 6808; fax: +1 703 648 6693. E-mail address: mfocazio@usgs.gov (M.J. Focazio). 0048-9697/$ – see front matter. Published by Elsevier B.V. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2008.02.021 available at www.sciencedirect.com www.elsevier.com/locate/scitotenv ARTICLE IN PRESS STOTEN-10484; No of Pages 16 Please cite this article as: Focazio MJ, et al, A national reconnaissance for pharmaceuticals and other organic wastewater contaminants in the United States — II) Untreated drinking ..., Sci Total Environ (2008), doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2008.02.021