Efficiency of conventional drinking-water-treatment processes in removal of pharmaceuticals and other organic compounds
Abstract
Samples of water and sediment from a conventional drinking-water-treatment (DWT) plant were analyzed for 113 organic compounds (OCs) that included pharmaceuticals, detergent degradates, flame retardants and plasticizers, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), fragrances and flavorants, pesticides and an insect repellent, and plant and animal steroids. 45 of these compounds were detected in samples of source water and 34 were detected in samples of settled sludge and (or) filter-backwash sediments. The average percent removal of these compounds was calculated from their average concentration in time-composited water samples collected after clarification, disinfection (chlorination), and granular-activated-carbon (GAC) filtration. In general, GAC filtration accounted for 53% of the removal of these compounds from the aqueous phase; disinfection accounted for 32%, and clarification accounted for 15%. The effectiveness of these treatments varied widely within and among classes of compounds; some hydrophobic compounds were strongly oxidized by free chlorine, and some hydrophilic compounds were partly removed through adsorption processes. The detection of 21 of the compounds in 1 or more samples of finished water, and of 3 to 13 compounds in every finished-water sample, indicates substantial but incomplete degradation or removal of OCs through the conventional DWT process used at this plant.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The maximum sulfamethoxazole concentration in this study matched or exceeded the maximum concentration in five drinking water studies and was within a factor of 3 of the maximum concentration in five other studies.
“The maximum sulfamethoxazole concentration in this study matched or exceeded the maximum concentration in five drinking water studies (Zimmerman, 2005;Stackelberg et al., 2007;Focazio et al., 2008;Illinois EPA, 2008;Tabe, 2010), and was within a factor of 3 of the maximum concentration in five other studies (Verstraeten et al., 2005;Benotti et al., 2009;Fram and Belitz, 2011;Erickson et al., 2014;”
From Septic systems as sources of organic wastewater compounds in domestic drinking water wells in a shallow sand and gravel aquifer (2016) · cites this paper as Stackelberg et al., 2007
Cites
Kolpin, D. W., Furlong, E. T., Meyer, M. T., Thurman, E. M., Zaugg, S. D., Barber, L. B., & Buxton, H. T. (2002) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es011055j · Cited by 7,953 · see citing works
Self-citationPharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Environment: Agents of Subtle Change?
Daughton, C. G., & Ternes, T. A. (1999) · Environmental Health Perspectives · doi:10.1289/ehp.99107s6907 · Cited by 4,703 · see citing works
Occurrence, fate and effects of pharmaceutical substances in the environment- A review
Halling-Sørensen, B., Nors Nielsen, S., Lanzky, P. F., Ingerslev, F., Holten Lützhøft, H. C., & Jørgensen, S. E. (1998) · Chemosphere · doi:10.1016/s0045-6535(97)00354-8 · Cited by 3,285 · see citing works
Statistical Methods in Water Resources
Helsel, D. R., & Hirsch, R. M. (1992) · Studies in environmental science · doi:10.1016/s0166-1116(08)x7035-9 · Cited by 2,899 · see citing works
Kolpin, D. W., Furlong, E. T., Meyer, M. T., Thurman, E. M., Zaugg, S. D., Barber, L. B., & Buxton, H. T. (2002) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es0201350 · Cited by 1,706 · see citing works
Self-citationWesterhoff, P. K., Yoon, Y., Snyder, S. A., & Wert, E. C. (2005) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es0484799 · Cited by 1,551 · see citing works
Removal of Pharmaceuticals during Drinking Water Treatment
Ternes, T. A., Meisenheimer, M., McDowell, D. C., Sacher, F., Brauch, H., Haist-Gulde, B., Preuß, G., Willme, U., & Zullei-Seibert, N. (2002) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es015757k · Cited by 1,293 · see citing works
Stackelberg, P. E., Furlong, E. T., Meyer, M. T., Zaugg, S. D., Henderson, A. K., & Reissman, D. B. (2004) · The Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2004.03.015 · Cited by 1,064 · see citing works
Self-citationPharmaceuticals in the environment : sources, fate, effects and risks
Kümmerer, K. (2008) · FreiDok plus (Universitätsbibliothek Freiburg) · Cited by 852 · see citing works
Glassmeyer, S. T., Furlong, E. T., Kolpin, D. W., Cahill, J. D., Zaugg, S. D., Werner, S. L., Meyer, M. T., & Kryak, D. D. (2005) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es048120k · Cited by 705 · see citing works
Self-citationRemoval of Antibiotics from Surface and Distilled Water in Conventional Water Treatment Processes
Adams, C. D., Wang, Y.-T., Loftin, K. A., & Meyer, M. T. (2002) · Journal of Environmental Engineering · doi:10.1061/(asce)0733-9372(2002)128:3(253 · Cited by 660 · see citing works
Self-citationLoraine, G. A., & Pettigrove, M. E. (2005) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es051380x · Cited by 644 · see citing works
KOLPIN, D., SKOPEC, M., MEYER, M., FURLONG, E., & ZAUGG, S. (2004) · Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2004.01.015 · Cited by 579 · see citing works
Self-citationTriclosan, a commonly used bactericide found in human milk and in the aquatic environment in Sweden
Adolfsson‐Erici, M., Pettersson, M., Parkkonen, J., & Sturve, J. (2002) · Chemosphere · doi:10.1016/s0045-6535(01)00255-7 · Cited by 554 · see citing works
Oxidative treatment of pharmaceuticals in water
Zwiener, C. (2000) · Water Research · doi:10.1016/s0043-1354(99)00338-3 · Cited by 518 · see citing works
Kinney, C. A., Furlong, E. T., Werner, S. L., & Cahill, J. D. (2006) · Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry · doi:10.1897/05-187r.1 · Cited by 481 · see citing works
Self-citationStatistical methods in water resources
Haan, C. T. (1993) · Journal of Hydrology · doi:10.1016/0022-1694(93)90081-j · Cited by 480 · see citing works
Survey of Organic Wastewater Contaminants in Biosolids Destined for Land Application
Kinney, C. A., Furlong, E. T., Zaugg, S. D., Burkhardt, M. R., Werner, S. L., Cahill, J. D., & Jorgensen, G. R. (2006) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es0603406 · Cited by 477 · see citing works
Self-citationPharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Environment: Agents of Subtle Change?
Daughton, C. G., & Ternes, T. A. (1999) · Environmental Health Perspectives · doi:10.2307/3434573 · Cited by 433 · see citing works
Human pharmaceuticals in US surface waters: A human health risk assessment
Schwab, B. W., Hayes, E. P., Fiori, J. M., Mastrocco, F. J., Roden, N. M., Cragin, D., Meyerhoff, R. D., D’Aco, V. J., & Anderson, P. D. (2005) · Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology · doi:10.1016/j.yrtph.2005.05.005 · Cited by 417 · see citing works
Bedner, M., & MacCrehan, W. A. (2005) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es0509073 · Cited by 374 · see citing works
Pharmaceuticals in the Environment: Sources, Fate, Effects and Risks
Dı́az, L. F. (2003) · Waste Management · doi:10.1016/s0956-053x(02)00108-3 · Cited by 342 · see citing works
Dodd, M. C., & Huang, C. (2004) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es035225z · Cited by 339 · see citing works
Childress, C. J. O., Foreman, W. T., Connor, B. F., & Maloney, T. J. (1999) · Antarctica A Keystone in a Changing World · doi:10.3133/ofr99193 · Cited by 327 · see citing works
Cahill, J. D., Furlong, E. T., Burkhardt, M. R., Kolpin, D. W., & Anderson, L. G. (2004) · Journal of Chromatography A · doi:10.1016/j.chroma.2004.04.005 · Cited by 324 · see citing works
Self-citationOxidation of pharmaceuticals during water treatment with chlorine dioxide
Huber, M. M., Korhonen, S., Ternes, T. A., & von Gunten, U. (2005) · Water Research · doi:10.1016/j.watres.2005.05.040 · Cited by 316 · see citing works
Occurrence and Fate of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) in Biosolids
Xia, K., Bhandari, A., Das, K. C., & Pillar, G. (2005) · Journal of Environmental Quality · doi:10.2134/jeq2005.0091 · Cited by 291 · see citing works
Products of Aqueous Chlorination of Bisphenol A and Their Estrogenic Activity
Hu, J., Aizawa, T., & Ookubo, S. (2002) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es011177b · Cited by 283 · see citing works
Transformation of Aromatic Ether- and Amine-Containing Pharmaceuticals during Chlorine Disinfection
Pinkston, K. E., & Sedlak, D. L. (2004) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es035368l · Cited by 241 · see citing works
Kannan, K., Reiner, J. L., Yun, S. H., Perrotta, E., Lin, T., Johnson‐Restrepo, B., & Rodan, B. D. (2005) · Chemosphere · doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2005.03.041 · Cited by 240 · see citing works
Reddersen, K., Heberer, T., & Dünnbier, U. (2002) · Chemosphere · doi:10.1016/s0045-6535(02)00387-9 · Cited by 234 · see citing works
Determination of Clofibric Acid and N-(Phenylsulfonyl)-Sarcosine in Sewage, River and Drinking Water
Heberer, T., & Stan, H. ‐. (1997) · International Journal of Environmental & Analytical Chemistry · doi:10.1080/03067319708031398 · Cited by 173 · see citing works
Oppel, J., Broll, G., Löffler, D., et al. (2004) · The Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2004.02.004 · Cited by 164 · see citing works
Gibs, J., Stackelberg, P. E., Furlong, E. T., Meyer, M. T., Zaugg, S. D., & Lippincott, R. L. (2006) · The Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2006.11.003 · Cited by 161 · see citing works
Self-citationAqueous Chlorination Kinetics of Some Endocrine Disruptors
Deborde, M., Rabouan, S., Gallard, H., & Legube, B. (2004) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es040006e · Cited by 154 · see citing works
Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Environment: Overarching Issues and Overview
Daughton, C. G. (2001) · ACS symposium series · doi:10.1021/bk-2001-0791.ch001 · Cited by 149 · see citing works
Alkylphenol Ethoxylate Degradation Products in Land-Applied Sewage Sludge (Biosolids)
Guardia, M. J. L., Hale, R. C., Harvey, E. P., et al. (2001) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es0109040 · Cited by 143 · see citing works
Zaugg, S. D., Smith, S. G., Schroeder, M. P., Barber, L. B., & Burkhardt, M. R. (2002) · doi:10.3133/wri20014186 · Cited by 127 · see citing works
Self-citationPetrović, M., Díaz, A. R., Ventura, F., & Barceló, . (2003) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es034139w · Cited by 106 · see citing works
Pharmaceuticals in the Canadian Environment
Metcalfe, C. D., Miao, X., Hua, W., Letcher, R. J., & Servos, M. R. (2004) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-662-09259-0_6 · Cited by 96 · see citing works
Persistence of Testosterone and 17β‐Estradiol in Soils Receiving Swine Manure or Municipal Biosolids
Jacobsen, A., Lorenzen, A., Chapman, R. A., et al. (2005) · Journal of Environmental Quality · doi:10.2134/jeq2004.0331 · Cited by 96 · see citing works
Burkhardt, M. R., ReVello, R. C., Smith, S. G., et al. (2004) · Analytica Chimica Acta · doi:10.1016/j.aca.2004.11.023 · Cited by 94 · see citing works
Dissipation of Fragrance Materials in Sludge-Amended Soils
DiFrancesco, A. M., Chiu, P. C., Standley, L. J., et al. (2003) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es034618v · Cited by 79 · see citing works
Water‐soluble pesticides in finished water of community water supplies
Coupe, R. H., & Blomquist, J. D. (2004) · American Water Works Association · doi:10.1002/j.1551-8833.2004.tb10723.x · Cited by 72 · see citing works
Blood concentrations of polycyclic musks in healthy young adults
Hütter, H., Wallner, P., Moshammer, H. M., et al. (2005) · Chemosphere · doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2005.01.070 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
Korshin, G. V., Kim, J., & Gan, L. (2006) · Water Research · doi:10.1016/j.watres.2006.01.003 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Products of aqueous chlorination of 4-nonylphenol and their estrogenic activity
Hu, J., Xie, G., & Aizawa, T. (2002) · Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry · doi:10.1002/etc.5620211005 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
Degradation of pesticides by chlorination during water purification
Magara, Y., Aizawa, T., Matumoto, N., et al. (1994) · Water Science & Technology · doi:10.2166/wst.1994.0323 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
Volk, C. J., Kaplan, L. A., Robinson, J., et al. (2005) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es040480k · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Winslow, S. D., Prakash, B., Domino, M. M., Pepich, B. V., & Munch, D. J. (2001) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es001683l · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Oppel, J., Broll, G., Löffler, D., et al. (2004) · The Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2004.08.005 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Occurrence of Human Pharmaceuticals in Water Resources of the United States: A Review
Focazio, M. J., Kolpin, D. W., & Furlong, E. T. (2004) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-662-09259-0_7 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Self-citationStackelberg, P. E., Furlong, E. T., Meyer, M. T., et al. (2005) · The Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2005.04.012 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Self-citation
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Patel, M., Kumar, R., Kishor, K., Mlsna, T., Pittman, C. U., & Mohan, D. (2019) · Chemical Reviews · doi:10.1021/acs.chemrev.8b00299 · Cited by 2,654 · see citing works
Focazio, M. J., Kolpin, D. W., Barnes, K. K., Furlong, E. T., Meyer, M. T., Zaugg, S. D., Barber, L. B., & Thurman, M. E. (2008) · Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2008.02.021 · Cited by 843 · see citing works
Self-citationXiao, X., Ulrich, B. A., Chen, B., & Higgins, C. P. (2017) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/acs.est.7b00970 · Cited by 391 · see citing works
Removal of pharmaceutical compounds in water and wastewater using fungal oxidoreductase enzymes
Naghdi, M., Taheran, M., Brar, S. K., Kermanshahi-pour, A., Verma, M., & Surampalli, R. Y. (2018) · Environmental Pollution · doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2017.11.060 · Cited by 275 · see citing works
Remucal, C. K., & Manley, D. (2016) · Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology · doi:10.1039/c6ew00029k · Cited by 214 · see citing works
Investigating landfill leachate as a source of trace organic pollutants
Clarke, B. O., Anumol, T., Barlaz, M., & Snyder, S. A. (2015) · Chemosphere · doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2015.02.030 · Cited by 195 · see citing works
Schaider, L. A., Ackerman, J. M., & Rudel, R. A. (2016) · Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.12.081 · Cited by 182 · see citing works
Bradley, P. M., LeBlanc, D. R., Romanok, K. M., Smalling, K. L., Focazio, M. J., Cardon, M. C., Clark, J. M., Conley, J. M., Evans, N., Givens, C. E., et al. (2021) · Environment International · doi:10.1016/j.envint.2021.106487 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Philip, J. M., Koshy, C. M., Aravind, U. K., & Aravindakumar, C. T. (2022) · Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering · doi:10.1016/j.jece.2022.107509 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
- Authors
- Stackelberg, P. E., Gibs, J., Furlong, E. T., Meyer, M. T., Zaugg, S. D., & Lippincott, R. L.
- Affiliations
- United States Geological Survey (US)
- New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (US)
- Corresponding author
- Stackelberg, Paul E.
- Venue
- Science of The Total Environment
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2007-05
- Volume
- 377
- Issue
- 2-3
- Pages
- 255-272
- ISSN
- 0048-9697 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2103073512
- Cited by
- 749
- References
- 53
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 25 · 2024: 27 · 2023: 25 · 2022: 49 · 2021: 54 · 2020: 64 · 2019: 45 · 2018: 39 · 2017: 57 · 2016: 51 · 2015: 34 · 2014: 47 · 2013: 47 · 2012: 55
- FWCI
- 18.18
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Science of The Total Environment (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- U.S. Geological Survey
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Water Treatment and Disinfection
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Water Science and Technology › Advanced oxidation water treatment
- Keywords
- drinking water treatment, pharmaceuticals, organic pollutants, pollutant removal efficiency, granular activated carbon, chlorine disinfection, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, flame retardants, pesticides, insect repellents, steroids, adsorption, oxidation, water source contamination
- MeSH terms
- Detergents, Pharmaceutical Preparations, Environmental Monitoring, Filtration, Flame Retardants, Flavoring Agents, Insect Repellents, Organic Chemicals, Perfume, Pesticides, Plasticizers, Steroids, Water Pollutants, Chemical, Water Supply, Water Purification
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
