The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Toxic Substances Hydrology (Toxics) Program develops laboratory methods designed to measure a wide range of environmental properties. Methods include:

• Measurement of the concentration of pesticides and their environmental degradates
• Laboratory experiments that estimate rates of biodegradation
• Laboratory methods for the detection and measurement of pharmaceuticals and other organic wastewater compounds in water and soil
• Measurement of chemical tracers, such as CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons), caffeine, rare earth elements (gadolinium), and/or isotopes that indicate relative age and/or source of water or contamination

The information presented on this page cuts across boundaries of the Toxics Program's individual investigations and projects so that information on the development of analytical methods for environmental measurements can be presented in one place.

Investigations and Research Activities

• Emerging Water Quality Issues Investigations – Methods Development
• Organic Geochemistry Research Group
• The Reston Chlorofluorocarbon Laboratory
• Reston SF6 Laboratory
• Reston Stable Isotope Laboratory

Fact Sheets

• USGS Mobile Atmospheric Mercury Laboratory Makes an Impact
• Pharmaceuticals, Hormones, and Other Organic Wastewater Contaminants in U.S. Streams, USGS Fact Sheet FS-027-02
• A Reconnaissance for Sulfonylurea Herbicides in Waters of the Midwestern USA, USGS Fact Sheet FS-046-98

USGS scientists are developing analytical methods for the measurement of pharmaceuticals at environmentally relevant concentrations in water samples. The methods use an instrument that couples liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). This multifunctional instrument is capable of detecting contaminants at ultra-trace concentrations.
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Laboratory equipment used for soil-column experiments on the transport of emerging contaminants through soil
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Bibliography

• Publications on Laboratory Methods (343 Publications)

Headlines

• USGS Mobile Atmospheric Mercury Laboratory Makes an Impact
• Developing Methods to Measure New Contaminants in Aquatic Environments
• Glyphosate Herbicide Found in Many Midwestern Streams, Antibiotics Not Common
• How Reliable are Chemical Property Data in the Literature?
• What's in Our Wastewaters and Where Does it Go?
• Measuring New Pesticides and How they Transform in the Environment

Making hydrogen gas measurements in a field laboratory, Bemidji Crude Oil Spill Site, MN. The concentration of hydrogen in ground water is used as an indicator of dominant microbial degradation processes
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