US Geological Survey, Troy, NY, USA.
US Geological Survey, Coram, NY, USA.
Sci Total Environ. 2015 Apr 15;512-513:43-54. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.12.067. Epub 2015 Jan 19.
Septic-system discharges can be an important source of micropollutants (including pharmaceuticals and endocrine active compounds) to adjacent groundwater and surface water systems. Groundwater samples were collected from well networks tapping glacial till in New England (NE) and sandy surficial aquifer New York (NY) during one sampling round in 2011. The NE network assesses the effect of a single large septic system that receives discharge from an extended health care facility for the elderly. The NY network assesses the effect of many small septic systems used seasonally on a densely populated portion of Fire Island. The data collected from these two networks indicate that hydrogeologic and demographic factors affect micropollutant concentrations in these systems. The highest micropollutant concentrations from the NE network were present in samples collected from below the leach beds and in a well downgradient of the leach beds. Total concentrations for personal care/domestic use compounds, pharmaceutical compounds and plasticizer compounds generally ranged from 1 to over 20 μg/L in the NE network samples. High tris(2-butoxyethyl phosphate) plasticizer concentrations in wells beneath and downgradient of the leach beds (>20 μg/L) may reflect the presence of this compound in cleaning agents at the extended health-care facility. The highest micropollutant concentrations for the NY network were present in the shoreline wells and reflect groundwater that is most affected by septic system discharges. One of the shoreline wells had personal care/domestic use, pharmaceutical, and plasticizer concentrations ranging from 0.4 to 5.7 μg/L. Estradiol equivalency quotient concentrations were also highest in a shoreline well sample (3.1 ng/L). Most micropollutant concentrations increase with increasing specific conductance and total nitrogen concentrations for shoreline well samples. These findings suggest that septic systems serving institutional settings and densely populated areas in coastal settings may be locally important sources of micropollutants to adjacent aquifer and marine systems.
污水系统排放物可能是邻近地下水和地表水系统中微量污染物（包括药品和内分泌活性化合物）的重要来源。在 2011 年的一轮采样中，从新英格兰（NE）的冰川冲击土和纽约（NY）的浅层地表含水层的井网中采集了地下水样本。NE 网络评估了单个大型污水系统的影响，该系统接收来自老年人长期保健设施的排放物。NY 网络评估了在人口稠密的火岛部分季节性使用的许多小型污水系统的影响。从这两个网络收集的数据表明，水文地质和人口统计因素会影响这些系统中的微量污染物浓度。NE 网络中浓度最高的微量污染物存在于从淋滤床下方和淋滤床下游采集的样本中。个人护理/家用化合物、药品化合物和增塑剂化合物的总浓度在 NE 网络样品中一般为 1 至 20μg/L 以上。淋滤床下方和下游井中高浓度的三（2-丁氧基乙基）磷酸酯增塑剂（>20μg/L）可能反映了该化合物在长期保健设施清洁剂中的存在。NY 网络中浓度最高的微量污染物存在于海岸线井中，反映了受污水系统排放影响最大的地下水。其中一个海岸线井中的个人护理/家用、药品和增塑剂浓度范围为 0.4 至 5.7μg/L。在一个海岸线井样本中，雌二醇当量浓度也最高（3.1ng/L）。大多数微量污染物浓度随海岸线井样本的比电导和总氮浓度的增加而增加。这些发现表明，为沿海地区的机构和人口稠密地区服务的污水系统可能是邻近含水层和海洋系统中微量污染物的局部重要来源。
