Abstract
Forest-water reuse (FWR) systems treat municipal, industrial, and agricultural wastewaters via land application to forest soils. Previous studies have shown that both large-scale conventional wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and FWR systems do not completely remove many contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) before release of treated wastewater. To better characterize CECs and potential for increased implementation of FWR systems, FWR systems need to be directly compared to conventional WWTPs. In this study, both a quantitative, targeted analysis and a nontargeted analysis were utilized to better understand how CECs release to waterways from an FWR system compared to a conventional treatment system. Quantitatively, greater concentrations and total mass load of CECs was exhibited downstream of the conventional WWTP compared to the FWR. Average summed concentrations of 33 targeted CECs downstream of the conventional system were ~ 1000 ng/L and downstream of the FWR were ~ 30 ng/L. From a nontargeted chemical standpoint, more tentatively identified chemicals were present, and at a greater relative abundance, downstream of the conventional system as well. Frequently occurring contaminants included phthalates, pharmaceuticals, and industrial chemicals. These data indicate that FWR systems represent a sustainable wastewater treatment alternative and that emerging contaminant release to waterways was lower at a FWR system than a conventional WWTP.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Wanda Bodnar and Leonard Collins of the UNC Biomarker Mass Spectrometry Center for instrument use and technical assistance. We additionally would like to thank Andrew Birch and Hallie Hartley for field and technical assistance and Jon Sobus, Sarah Laughlin-Toth, and Jarod Grossman for data processing assistance. This study was supported with funding from the North Carolina State University Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Bioenergy Research Initiative (G40100278314RSD), the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Superfund Basic Research Program (Grant 5 P42ES005948), and the UNC Center for Environmental Health and Susceptibility (P30ES010126). This work was supported in part by an appointment to the ORISE Research Participation Program at the Office of Research and Development, US EPA, through an interagency agreement between the US EPA and DOE. This work has been internally reviewed at the US EPA and has been approved for publication. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of the US Environmental Protection Agency.
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McEachran, A.D., Hedgespeth, M.L., Newton, S.R. et al. Comparison of emerging contaminants in receiving waters downstream of a conventional wastewater treatment plant and a forest-water reuse system. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 12451–12463 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-1505-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-1505-5