USGS briefing/discussion at USEPA Region 2 on
recent findings on Emerging Contaminants detected in
surface water, ground water, drinking water, and wastewater
in Region 2 and other watersheds
When: Wednesday December 16, 2008 from 10:00-12:00 noon
Where: USEPA Region 2 Bldg. 290 Broadway, NY City, Room 27A and
by WEBEX link.
Who should attend? Federal, State and local ambient and drinking water
scientists and managers in the USEPA Region 2 area with interest in
emerging contaminants.
Speakers: Four experts from USGS will provide insight as to their
experiences with Emerging Contaminants.
Time
Speaker
10:00
Herb Buxton
10:25
Mike Yurewicz
10:50
Patrick Phillips
11:15
Jeff Fischer
11:40
Eric Vowinkel
Discussion
Moderator
12:00
Adjourn
Title and USGS Office
Chief, Toxics
Substances Hydrology
Program, Headquarters
Reston, VA
NAWQA Program
Coordinator Northeast
and Midwest Areas,
Reston, VA
Chief, Hudson River
NAWQA Program, NY
Water Science Center,
Troy, NY
Chief, Water Quality
Assessments, NJ Water
Science Center, West
Trenton, NJ
Liaison between New
Jersey Water Science
Center and USEPA
Region 2
Contact information
Title of presentation
Phone: 609-771-3044
email: hbuxton@usgs.gov
Emerging Contaminants: What we
know and what we need to know
Phone: 703-648-5811 email:
mcyurewicz@usgs.gov
Anthropogenic organic compounds in
source and finished water of community
water systems -- preliminary results
Phone: 518-285-5667
email: pjphilli@usgs.gov
Emerging Contaminants research in
New York and Vermont
Phone: 609-771-3953
email: fischer@usgs.gov
Preliminary results of NAWQA Source
water quality sampling at a surfacewater site in New Jersey and groundwater wells on Long Island, NY
Phone: 609-771-3931
Email: Vowinkel@usgs.gov
Questions and answers
USGS Speaker Biographies
Herb Buxton coordinates the USGS Toxic Substances Hydrology Program. The Program provides scientific
information on the behavior of toxic substances in the Nation’s natural environments. He is a senior technical
expert on hazardous substances in hydrologic systems and serves on numerous interagency committees,
including as co-chair of the OSTP Work Group on Pharmaceuticals in the environment. He also serves as
Chair of the USGS Human Health Coordination Committee, which advocates for the use of USGS
environmental science for public health decision-making. Herb received a B.S. in Geology from Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute, and an M.S. in Geology from the State University of New York at Fredonia. After working
as a research associate at the University of South Carolina, Hydrogeology Program, he started a 30-year
career with the USGS where he has served as a scientist and manager.
Mike Yurewicz has been with the USGS since 1972. A graduate of Rutgers University, he started with the
USGS in the USGS NJ Water Science Center. He has held positions at the Water Science Center, Regional,
and headquarters levels. Most of his work has dealt with surface water and ground water water-quality studies.
He has been the Regional NAWQA Program Officer for the Northeast United States since 1994, and is located
in Reston VA.
Pat Phillips has been with the USGS for over 20 years, first in the Maryland District, and since 1992 in the
New York Water Science Center. Pat has worked with both the NAWQA and Toxics Emerging Contaminants
Programs on investigating the fate and transport of organic compounds. He has authored numerous journal
articles and USGS reports.
Jeff Fischer is a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and heads the Water Quality Assessment
Section at the New Jersey Water Science Center. He received his BS in geology from the University of
Delaware and his M.S. in hydrology from the University of Nevada – Reno. His past research has looked at
the geology of the Bering Sea, isolation of radioactive waste in arid environments, and biodegradation of
gasoline and chlorinated compounds. Most recently he directed the National Water Quality Assessment
studies in the Delaware River Basin and Long Island-New Jersey. These studies evaluate the extent of
nutrient, organic, and trace element contaminants in streams and aquifers, and their impacts on ecosystems.
His current research interests include the transport and fate of organic contaminants in streams and aquifers,
and the fate of organic wastewater compounds in water-treatment systems.
Questions to consider regarding Emerging Contaminants (ECs)
Below are some questions that the team of experts on ECs from the USGS will be prepared to answer. If EPA
has any other questions, please feel free to contact me and I will share them with the expert panel and we will
try to answer them during the briefing.
1. Are these USGS methods published? Could you provide the most significant references for these
presentations?
2. Are the USGS EC and pesticide methods comparable to USEPA methods? If not, what are the
differences between them.
3. What are the most frequently detected EC’s in surface water, ground water, drinking water, and
wastewater in the USGS studies.
4. How many different compounds are detected in samples? Do the results vary regionally?
5. How do concentrations of EC’s relate to human health or ecological health criteria?
6. What would be a recommended list of EC’s and minimum reporting levels for inclusion in a drinking
water monitoring program?
7. What would be a recommended list of EC’s and minimum reporting levels for inclusion in an ambient
monitoring network like the National Water Quality Monitoring Network for Coastal Waters and Their
Tributaries?
8. Do current results suggest that wastewater treatment plant processes reduce concentrations of ECs from
surface-water sources?
9. What research is going on now? What questions are researchers at USGS trying to answer?
10. What research is USGS considering in the future?
11. Are any EC studies being conducted in the USEPA Region 2 areas in the Caribbean?
12. What research is USEPA currently conducting and where can we find out more about these studies?