Project Background
Recent research reveals that surface waters, ground waters, and soils worldwide are contaminated with low level antibiotics and hormonally active agents (Koplin et al. 2002). The origin of antibiotic contamination of surface and ground water is considered to be both point and non-point discharges of municipal, domestic and agricultural wastewater. In the United States, hormone supplements are used in the production of approximately 90% of beef cattle (Balter 1999). While fractions ofthese drugs may be completely metabolized to inactive compounds, a significant amount may be excreted as active metabolites (Carlson et al. 2004). Other research suggests that as much as 90% of some human and veterinary antibiotics may be excreted as the parent compound.
A growing body of research documents the occurence of veterinary pharmaceuticals in surface waters. Studies in Nebraska and Colorado have found significant estrogenic and androgenic activity in waterways receiving cattle feedlot effluent; some at least twice the concentrations measured at sites with no observable livestock impact (Soto et al. 2004). Yang and Carlson (2003) found no antibiotics in an upstream, pristine mountain site but found tetracycline, sulfonamide, and ionophore (used exclusively for livestock) compounds in a local river after passing through urban and agricultural landscapes.
Pharmaceutical occurrence in ground water has not been studied to the extent of surface waters. However, recent work conducted in the Helena Valley of Montana documents the detection of 22 pharmaceutically-active compounds, personal care products and endocrine disrupting compounds (PPCPs) in public and private water supply wells (Miller and Meek, 2005). Additionally, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) found 9 of 45 tested organic wastewater compounds in a shallow, unconfined sandy aquifer near La Pine, Oregon (Hinkle, 2005). Other literature suggests that compounds are attenuated during transport to ground water systems.
Significant concerns related to the use of human and agricultural antibiotics is the increasing emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (Kumar et al. 2005), reproductive impairment and increased incidences of cancer. Researchers studying wild fathead minnows exposed to feedlot effluent observed significant alterations to reproductive biology including decreased testosterone synthesis, altered head morphology, smaller testis size in males, and decreased estrogen:androgen ratio in femals (Orlando et al. 2004).
In 1999 and 2000, the USGS conducted the first nationwide reconnaissance of the occurrence of pharmaceuticals in the environment (Koplin et al. 2002). Ninety-five organic wastewater contaminants were sampled in streams susceptible to contamination from urbanization and/or livestock production. Five sites were selected for evaluation in Montana, including Godfrey Creek near Churchill in Gallatin County. Organic wastewater contaminants were detected in all five of the Montana sites.
Project Objectives
Sufficient data exists to support the need for further screening of pharmaceutical occurrence in Montana's water resources. This 2-year project being conducted by Montana State University Extension Water Quality (MSUEWQ) and the Gallatin Local Water Quality District (GLWQD) will further the knowledge base regarding pharmaceutical occurrence in Montana's surface and ground waters and result in the development of innovative and widely available sample collection protocols. Contingent on the occurrence of veterinary pharmaceuticals in targeted sampling locations, management recommendations could be developed that reduce the translocation of veterinary pharmaceuticals to water resources.
The objectives of the project are: (1) Screen for the occurrence of selected pharmaceutical compounds in surface and ground waters at agriculturally-influenced sites and at the agriculture/urban interface throughout the Gallatin Valley, and (2) contingent on pharmaceutical detection from water sampling efforts , create technical standards regarding animal waste management aimed at preventing contamination of Montana waterways from veterinary pharmaceuticals.
Sampling protocols and technical standards developed through this project will represent an innovative and timely approach to addressing emerging environmental concern, will incorporate research findings from other institutions and agencies, and will be adapted from currently existing standards and techniques.
Project Partners and Collaborators
Montana State University Extension Water Quality
Gallatin Local Water Quality District
Montana Department of Agriculture Laboratory
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region VIII
Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology
References
Balter, M. 1999. Scientific cross-claims fly in continuing beef war. Science 284:1453-1455.
Carlson, Kenneth, Shinwoo Yang, Jung-mon Cha, Kathy Doesken, and Jessica Davis. 2004. Antibiotics in animal waste lagoons and manure stockpiles. From the Ground Up Agronomy News. Colorado State University Cooperative Extension. December 2004, 24:3.
Hinkle, S.R., R.J. Weick, J.M. Johnson, J.D. Cahill, S.B. Smith, and B.J. Rich. 2005. Organic wastewater compounds, pharmaceuticals, and coliphage in ground water receiving discharge from onsite wastewater treatment systems near La Pine, Oregon: Occurrence and implications for transport. USGS Scientific Inv. Report 2005-5055, 98 p.
Koplin, Dana W., Edward T. Furlong, Michael T. Meyer, E. Michael Thurman, Steven D. Zaugg, Larry B. Barber, and Herbert T. Buxton. 2002. Pharmaceuticals, hormones and other wastewater contaminants in U.S. Streams. 1999-2000: A national reconnaissance. Environ. Sci. Technol. 36:1202-1211.
Kumar, Kuldip, Satish C. Gupta, Yogesh Chander and Ashok K. Singh. 2005. Antibiotic use in agriculture and its impact on the terrestrial environment. Adv. Agron. 87:1-54.
Miller, Kathleen and Joseph Meek. 2005. Pharmaceuticals, personal care products, endocrine disruptors (PPCPs) and microbial indicators of fecal contamination in ground water in the Helena Valley, Montana, USA. In Proc. Nat. Ground Water Assoc. Int. Conf. on Pharmaceuticals and Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals in Water, 5th, Costa Mesa, CA, March 13-15 2006.
Orlando, Edward F., Alan S. Kolok, Gerry A. Binzcik, Jennifer L. Gates, Megan K. Horton, Christy S. Lambright, L. Earl Gra, Jr., Ana M. Soto and Louis J. Guillette, Jr. 2004. Endocrine-disrupting effects of cattle feedlot effluent on an aquatic sentinel species, the fathead minnow. Env. Health Persp. 1 March.
Yang, Shinwoo and Kenneth Carlson. 2003. Evolution of antibiotic occurrence in a river through pristine, urban and agricultural landscapes. Water Res. 37:4645-4656.
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