AWWA WQTC58963

Water samples collected at 33 sites on 23 streams throughout New Jersey and at select locations throughout a conventional water-treatment plant were analyzed to determine the concentrations of over 100 organic wastewater-related compounds (OWCs) including antibiotics and other pharmaceutically active compounds, fragrances, flame-retardants, plasticizers, plant and animal steroids, detergent metabolites, pesticides, byproducts of oil use and combustion, and other extensively used chemicals. Many of these compounds are likely derived from effluent from municipal wastewater-treatment (WWT) plants. Some compounds, however, such as pesticides and plant steroids could be derived from nonpoint or nonanthropogenic sources. Samples of raw water, settled water, filtered water, and finished water from the water-treatment plant and from the two streams that provide raw water to the plant were collected weekly for a 4-week period. Several compounds including fragrances, pharmaceuticals, flame retardants, and plasticizers that were frequently detected in samples of stream water and raw-water supplies also were frequently detected in samples collected throughout the WT plant, indicating that these compounds resist removal through conventional WT processes. Other compounds frequently detected in samples of stream water and raw water supplies including pharmaceuticals, plant and animal steroids, disinfectants, and detergent metabolites were not detected in samples of finished water, indicating that concentrations of these compounds are effectively reduced to levels less than analytical detection limits or that the compounds are transformed through conventional water-treatment processes to degradates not determined by the methods used in this study. Includes abstract only.