Why did you select these stream sites to sample?
Because little baseline data were available for most of these compounds
in water resources of the US, the study targeted streams most likely
to be impacted by wastewater through direct discharge of effluent or
by nearby land-use practices. Thus, the resulting information would
enable us to answer the question: are these chemicals entering our water
resources? This design helps to focus future research. If a compound
is absent or exceedingly low in concentration at most of these sites,
then it may warrant lower priority for expenditure on future hydrologic,
ecological, or health studies of that compound.
