Idaho Department of Environmental Quality scientist and a landowner (behind the first person) are taking a water-level measurement from a well that's part of the network used for the National Groundwater Reconnaissance for Emerging Contaminants Project.

USGS scientists sample for bacteria in groundwater at Clinch Beach, Traverse City, MI, as part of a study of bacterial contamination at beaches.

USGS scientist with a sediment sampler on the banks of the South Platte River, CO, during a sampling trip for the National Streambed-Sediment Reconnaissance for Emerging Contaminants Project.

USGS scientist sampling sediments from the South Platte River, CO, for the National Streambed-Sediment Reconnaissance for Emerging Contaminants Project.

During 2001, 76 water samples were collected upstream and downstream of selected towns and cities during the Iowa Urban Study of emerging contaminants.

Sample processing of water collected at a drinking-water-plant intake with a cone splitter -- Caloosahatchee River, FL. USGS has conducted a national reconnaissance of the occurrence of emerging contaminants in source waters.

As part of the USGS's national reconnaissance of the occurrence of emerging contaminants in source waters, scientists collected water samples near intake structures for water-supply plants. Here a USGS technician on a water-quality sampling boat is operating a crane with a water-quality sampler attached -- Duck River, TN.

An intake structure for a water-supply plant on the Duck River, TN, where USGS scientists collected water samples for a national reconnaissance of the occurrence of emerging contaminants in source waters.

USGS scientists use state-of-the-art laboratory equipment and technologies to test for traces of emerging contaminants in water, sediment, and animal tissue.

USGS scientist operating a liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) instrument used to measure emerging contaminants in water.

USGS scientist examining results of chromatographic analysis for emerging contaminants in water. USGS chemists and technicians are developing analytical methods for measuring emerging chemical and microbial contaminants and their associated degradation products in the environment.

An accelerated solvent extractor used to process soil samples for the determination of pesticides and pharmaceuticals in soil. USGS scientists have developed or adapted methods to measure emerging contaminants in sediment samples using a variety of gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry analytical techniques.