USGS - science for a changing world

Toxic Substances Hydrology Program

The Toxic Substances Hydrology Program provides objective scientific information on environmental contamination to improve characterization and management of contaminated sites, to protect human and environmental health, and to reduce potential future contamination problems. Read more about the Toxics Program

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Research Projects
USGS hydrologic technicians collect a stream sample from Hallocks Mill Brook downstream of the outfall of one of the wastewater treatment plants investigated

USGS scientist lifting a filter caked with sediment that's on top of a filter plate used for filtering suspended sediment from water samples.

USGS scientist removing the brain from a fish (a white sucker) collected from Fourmile Creek near Ankeny, Iowa. The scientists tested the fish's brain for the presence of antidepressant drugs. Traces of antidepressant drugs were found in fish and also in the water from Fourmile Creek.

Phytoplankton populations in estuaries such as San Francisco Bay, California, are influenced by a host of local stresses that mask plankton responses to global climate change

USGS scientist sampling Ear Spring, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, for dissolved mercury species. Old Faithful is erupting in the background

USGS scientists collecting gas samples from the unsaturated zone. Subsurface gases are drawn through a small glass tube filled with an adsorbing material, which traps mercury or volatile organic compounds for later analysis.

   
     
   
Crosscutting Topics
   
     
   
Photo Gallery
   

During a pH modification experiment conducted in Mineral Creek, Colo., the pH of the stream changed from about 3.0 to about 8.0 (acidic to mildly basic). The change in pH caused the older precipitates in the stream to be covered by a new precipitate (ferrous iron hydroxide). A solution of a base (sodium hydroxide) was injected into the stream to change the pH
During a pH modification experiment conducted in Mineral Creek, Colo., the pH of the stream changed from about 3.0 to about 8.0 (acidic to mildly basic). The change in pH caused the older precipitates in the stream to be covered by a new precipitate (ferrous iron hydroxide). A solution of a base (sodium hydroxide) was injected into the stream to change the pH -- from the Abandoned Hard-Rock Mining Photo Gallery

New Publications
   
Meetings

Selected New Publications
tet and sul antibiotic resistance genes in livestock lagoons of various operation type, configuration, and antibiotic occurrence: McKinney, C.W., Loftin, K.A., Meyer, M.T., Davis, J.G., and Pruden, A., 2010, Environmental Science and Technology, doi:10.1021/es9038165 (Advanced Web release).

USGS Toxic Substances Hydrology Program, 2010: Buxton, H.T., 2010, U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2010-3011, 4 p.

Determination of antibiotics in sewage from hospitals, nursery and slaughter house, wastewater treatment plant and source water in Chongqing region of Three Gorge Reservoir in China: Chang, X., Meyer, M.T., Liu, X., Zhao, Q., Chen, H., Chen, J.a., Qiu, Z., Yang, L., Cao, J., and Shu, W., 2010, Environmental Pollution, v. 158, no. 5, p. 1,444-1,450, doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2009.12.034.

Upcoming Publications
Effects of light and nutrients on seasonal phytoplankton succession in a temperate eutrophic coastal lagoon: Drake, J.L., Carpenter, E.J., Cousins, M., Nelson, K.L., Guido-Zarate, A., and Loftin, K.A., Hydrobiologia (IN PRESS).

A comparison of methods for estimating open-water evaporation in small wetlands: Masoner, J.R., and Stannard, D.I., Wetlands, p. 1-12, doi:10.1007/s13157-010-0041-y (IN PRESS).

Characteristics of geologic deposits in the vicinity of US Ecology, Amargosa Basin, Southern Nevada: Taylor, E.M., U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report (IN PRESS).

   

USGS cosponsors the special session Fate and Transport of Radionuclides in the Environment at the 2009 AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, California, December 14-18, 2009

USGS cosponsors the special session Nutrient Sources and Cycling in Aquatic Systems at the 2009 AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, California, December 14-18, 2009

USGS cosponsors the special session Fate and Behavior of Pharmaceuticals in Treated Wastewaters, Sludge and River Waters at the SETAC 30th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, November 19-23, 2009

The USGS sponsored the special session Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals--Analytical Methods and Environment Processes at the SETAC 30th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, November 19-23, 2009

USGS and Montana Tech of the University of Montana co-sponsor the Special Session Diurnal Biogeochemical Processes in Rivers, Lakes, and Shallow Groundwater at the 2009 GSA Annual Meeting, Portland, Oregon, October 18-21, 2009

USGS science featured at the AAAS symposium San Francisco Bay: Tracking and Understanding a Changing Estuary, San Francisco, California, August 17, 2009

USGS and Colorado State University co-sponsor EmCon2009-2nd International Conference on Occurrence, Fate, Effects, and Analysis of Emerging Contaminants in the Environment, Fort Collins, Colorado, August 4-7, 2009

USGS, University of Texas at El Paso, and the Mountain Studies Institute conducted a field trip on Acid Rock Drainage in the San Juans in Prospect Gulch, near Silverton, Colorado, on August 1, 2009.

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