NEWS NOTES ON SUSTAINABLE WATER RESOURCES  Congaree National Park  https://toxics.usgs.gov/highlights/2017-10-12-congaree.html  S...

NEWS NOTES ON SUSTAINABLE WATER RESOURCES  Congaree National Park  https://toxics.usgs.gov/highlights/2017-10-12-congaree.html  Sources of Contaminants to Congaree National Park: USGS and National Park Service  A National Park Service (NPS) and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) study determined the concentrations, potential for degradation, and potential for aquatic and terrestrial animal exposure to organic contaminants in water and sediment within the flood-plain/aquatic environments of Congaree National Park which is located downstream from urban and agricultural areas.  The NPS manages many of our Nation's most highly valued aquatic systems, including Congaree National Park, South Carolina, which is the largest remaining contiguous tract of old-growth bottomland forest in the southeastern United States. This park consists almost entirely of flood-plain/aquatic environments and is located downstream from multiple urban and agricultural areas that are potential sources of contaminants.  The USGS and others have documented organic chemicals that we use in our everyday lives (for example, medicines, personal hygiene products, chemical additives, and pesticides) in streams throughout the Nation. Because of the likelihood of upstream and within park sources, it is important to understand the origins, concentrations, and persistence of contaminants at Congaree National Park to begin to define exposure of humans and other organisms in the park.  More than one-half of the water and sediment analytes measured in this study were not detected or potentially had natural sources. Many other distinctly anthropogenic (human-sourced) contaminants, including insect repellent, antibacterials, phosphate flame retardants, pesticides, plasticizers, alkyl-phenol detergent metabolites, and pharmaceuticals, were detected in water and sediment throughout Congaree National Park.  Results from this study indicate that transport of contaminants into the park from upstream sources. For example, pharmaceutical contaminants were detected (49 total) more frequently and at higher concentrations at Congaree and Wateree River sites that are downstream from major urban areas. Multiple lines of evidence, however, indicate that park visitation also is a possible source of contamination. The insect repellent N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide (DEET) was detected frequently, with the highest concentrations near locations in the park used by visitors, including areas that were not connected to streams at the time of sampling. Assessment of the biodegradation potentials of eight model contaminants in sediment indicated good potential for biodegradation of most chemicals under aerobic conditions. The biodegradation potential was poor for some contaminants, such as the antibiotic sulfamethoxazole (detected in 69 percent of the incoming stream samples), under the anaerobic conditions expected to dominate saturated flood-plain sediment.  This study will also be linked on the 2017 Reports Page 02 of the Sustainable Water Resources Site at https://sites.google.com/site/sustainablewaterresources/  Tim SmithSustainable Water Resources CoordinatorGovernment Web Site, https://acwi.gov/Sustainable Water Resources Site, https://sites.google.com/site/sustainablewaterresources/