Gregory Foster, Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Thomas Huff, Assistant Director, Shared Research Instrumentation Facility Specialization, Potomac Environmental Research and Education Center (PEREC), Randolph McBride, Associate Professor, Geology and Oceanography, PEREC, and Scott Glaberman, Assistant Professor, Environmental Science and Policy, are conducting a study with a goal of collecting water and sediments in the Hunting Creek region to identify and quantify selected concentrations of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in the vicinity of reclaimed water released into the tidal freshwater Potomac River.
The researchers have several objectives for this work.
First, they aim to characterize the identity, occurrence and concentrations of the PPCPs in water and sediments using a cutting-edge ultra-high performance liquid chromatograph coupled with a highly sensitive triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer.
Second, they seek to establish a baseline of the PPCPs in water and sediments that may be of future importance in evaluating wastewater treatment technology or public and ecological health and regulation.
Third, they plan to identify spatial and temporal trends in the concentrations of PPCPs in water and sediments in Hunting Creek.
This project will utilize the most advanced computational toxicology approaches and databases.
The researchers will provide a final report covering the results, graphical analysis and statistical analysis of this scope of work to Alexandria Renew Enterprises no later than December 31, 2021 for year one and December 31, 2022 for year two following the completion of sampling covered by the scope of work. The researchers will have field sampling completed in May 2021 for year one and May 2022 for year two. They will have six months for the completion of PPCP analysis of water and sediment samples before they submit reports.
The researchers received $94,795 from Alexandria Renew Enterprises for this project. Funding began in July 2020 and will end in late June 2021.
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