title: Wastewater compounds in urban shallow groundwater wells correspond to exfiltration probabilities of nearby sewers.
abstract: Wastewater compounds are frequently detected in urban shallow groundwater. Sources include sewage or reclaimed wastewater, but origins are often unknown. In a prior study, wastewater compounds were quantified in waters sampled from shallow groundwater wells in a small coastal California city. Here, we resampled those wells and expanded sample analyses to include sewage- or reclaimed water-specific indicators, i.e. pharmaceutical and personal care product chemicals or disinfection byproducts. Also, we developed a geographic information system (GIS)-based model of sanitary sewer exfiltration probability--combining a published pipe failure model accounting for sewer pipe size, age, materials of construction, with interpolated depths to groundwater--to determine if sewer system attributes relate to wastewater compounds in urban shallow groundwater. Across the wells, groundwater samples contained varying wastewater compounds, including acesulfame, sucralose, bisphenol A, 4-tert-octylphenol, estrone and perfluorobutanesulfonic acid (PFBS). Fecal indicator bacterial concentrations and toxicological bioactivities were less than known benchmarks. However, the reclaimed water in this study was positive for all bioactivity tested. Excluding one well intruded by seawater, the similarity of groundwater to sewage, based on multiple indicators, increased with increasing sanitary sewer exfiltration probability (modeled from infrastructure within ca. 300 m of each well). In the absence of direct exfiltration or defect measurements, sewer exfiltration probabilities modeled from the collection system's physical data can indicate potential locations where urban shallow groundwater is contaminated by sewage.
authors.affiliation: Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA; Earth Research Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.
authors.forename: Do Gyun
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA; Earth Research Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.
authors.forename: Patrick R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Roehrdanz
authors.affiliation: Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA; Earth Research Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Feraud
authors.affiliation: Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA; Earth Research Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.
authors.forename: Jared
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ervin
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
authors.forename: Tarun
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Anumol
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
authors.forename: Ai
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
authors.forename: Minkyu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX, USA; Environmental Science & Engineering PhD Program, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tamez
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX, USA; Environmental Science & Engineering PhD Program, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Erving W
authors.initials: EW
authors.lastname: Morelius
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX, USA; Environmental Science & Engineering PhD Program, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Jorge L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Gardea-Torresdey
authors.affiliation: U.S. Geological Survey, California Water Science Center, 4165 Spruance Road, San Diego, CA 92123, USA.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Izbicki
authors.affiliation: Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA; Earth Research Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.
authors.forename: Jay C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Means
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
authors.forename: Shane A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Snyder
authors.affiliation: Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA; Earth Research Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA. Electronic address: holden@bren.ucsb.edu.
authors.forename: Patricia A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Holden
mesh_terms: D002140:California; D060587:Groundwater / Q000032:analysis*; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D012722:Sewage / Q000032:analysis; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid; D062065:Wastewater / Q000032:analysis*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*; D060986:Water Wells
chemical_list: D012722:Sewage; D062065:Wastewater; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Compounds of emerging concern; Fluorescence spectroscopy; GIS; Sanitary sewer exfiltration; Wastewater indicators