Comparative Analysis of Contaminant of Emerging Concern Discharges from Common On-site Wastewater Treatment Systems

Presented on Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Bowen Du1, Amy E. Price2, W. Casan Scott1, Lauren A. Kristofco2, Alejandro Ramirez3, Kevin C. Chambliss, Ph.D.3, Joe C. Yelderman Jr., Ph.D.4 and Bryan W. Brooks, Ph.D.2, (1)The Institute of Ecological, Earth, Environmental Sciences, Baylor University, Waco, TX, (2)Department of Environmental Science, Baylor University, Waco, TX, (3)Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Baylor University, Waco, TX, (4)Department of Geology, Baylor University, Waco, TX

Though over 25% of the United States population employs decentralized on-site technologies for wastewater treatment, a comparative understanding of treatment efficacies of these systems remain less understood than those from centralized municipal wastewater treatment plants.  In fact, it is estimated that 10 to 20 percent of these systems malfunction annually, potentially releasing untreated wastewater to groundwater, which can degrade water quality and result in impacts on surface waters in regions experiencing high groundwater–surface water exchange.  Even less understood is a comparative understanding of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) associated with these systems and subsequent mass loadings to the environment.  The objective of this study was to assess the occurrence and mass loadings of select CECs among several different wastewater treatment systems.  An additional objective was to evaluate the influences of seasons on the mass loadings among on-site aerobic treatment systems.  The studied CECs covered a variety of common pharmaceutical classes, including analgesic, anti-hypertension, antibiotic, psychostimulant metabolites, antihistamine, anti-seizure, benzodiazepine, anticoagulant, anti-inflammatory, antilipemic, caffeine, and the artificial sweetener sucralose, which appears to represent a robust tracer of anthropogenic activities.  An isotope dilution liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method that employed independent isotopically-labeled standards for quantitation of each compound was applied to quantitate target analytes for all samples.  ANOVA was performed to test differences of treatment type and season on environmental loadings of CECs and other routine water quality parameters.  Results showed that mass loadings of CECs from advanced aerobic on-site systems were reduced relative to septic systems.  The present study, which included CECs with varied physicochemical properties, provides an initial understanding of the range of potential mass loading among common on-site wastewater treatment systems to the environment.

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Bowen Du
The Institute of Ecological, Earth, Environmental Sciences, Baylor University, Waco, TX
Bowen Du is a Ph.D. student in The Institute of Ecological, Earth, Environmental Sciences and the Department of Environmental Science at Baylor University. His research focuses on developing approaches for understanding exposure of various contaminants of emerging concerns (CECs) in an effort to reduce uncertainty during environmental risk assessment and management. Du holds a B.S. in Environmental Science from Northeast Forestry University (China) and an M.S. in Environmental Science from Baylor University.
Amy E. Price
Department of Environmental Science, Baylor University, Waco, TX
Graduate student of Environmental Science at Baylor University
W. Casan Scott
The Institute of Ecological, Earth, Environmental Sciences, Baylor University, Waco, TX
Ph.D. student at Baylor University
Lauren A. Kristofco
Department of Environmental Science, Baylor University, Waco, TX
Graduate student at Baylor University
Alejandro Ramirez
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Baylor University, Waco, TX
Mass Spectrometry specialist at Baylor University
Kevin C. Chambliss, Ph.D.
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Baylor University, Waco, TX
Associate professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Baylor University
Joe C. Yelderman Jr., Ph.D.
Department of Geology, Baylor University, Waco, TX
Joe Yelderman, Ph.D., is a Professor of Geology at Baylor University
Bryan W. Brooks, Ph.D.
Department of Environmental Science, Baylor University, Waco, TX
Professor of Environmental Science and Biomedical Studies
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