Understanding the complex nature and consequences of water contaminants and providing critical data to empower effective and time-critical solutions.
Potential wastewater source
Issue
Despite nearly two decades of research on the sources, fate, and transport, and potential aquatic impacts of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), there is little evidence that the occurrence of these novel contaminants is decreasing.
Domestic, industrial, and hospital wastewater remain a source of pharmaceutical contaminants and personal care products, while agricultural activities remain a source of manure-borne hormones, veterinary antibiotics, and pesticides. Water quality regulations exist for many traditional contaminants, but most CECs do not have water quality standards and remain unregulated. Further, wastewater treatment plants were not designed to remove such contaminants; any removal is coincidental rather than deliberate. Agricultural best management practices (BMPs) have been specifically designed and adopted with the goal of reducing nutrients and sediment from runoff, but the co-benefits or potential unintended negative impacts of these practices on CEC fate and transport remains understudied. The increasing use of treated wastewater, especially for agricultural spray-irrigation, inadvertently introduces CECs into the terrestrial environment, and eventually into surface water, groundwater aquifers, and/or the crops themselves.
Wastewater has also recently become the focus of great interest as it has been leveraged for critical community-level decision-making to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Wastewater can be used in surveillance efforts to understand the presence of pathogens, such as SARS-CoV-2, and related pharmaceuticals. Wastewater surveillance provides an excellent window into the physical and mental health of residents at a community scale.
Researchers in this initiative are seeking to not only understand the impacts of individual and mixtures of CECs on ecosystem and human health, but to design and assess solutions for improving the treatment of CECs in wastewater treatment plants, water reclamation facilities, and drinking water treatment plants. Research programs in this initiative not only address critical research needs, but can be immediately used in critical decision-making efforts.
Co-conveners
Heather Preisendanz, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering
Director, Institute of Sustainable Agricultural, Food, and Environmental Sciences
Jon Sweetman, Ph.D
Assistant Research Professor, Ecosystem Science and Management
Associated Members
Associates
- Daniela Carrijo, Assistant Professor, Plant Science
- Lara Fowler, Senior Lecturer, Penn State Law
- Jason Keagy, Assistant Research Professor, Ecosystem Science & Management
- Faith Kibuye, Water Resources Extension Specialist
- Joshua Lambert, Professor, Food Science*
- Jenn Macalady, Professor of Geosciences*
- Odette Mina, Associate Research Professor, Director of the Energy & Environmental Sustainability Laboratories
- Matthew Royer, Associate Research Professor, Director of the Agriculture & Environment Center*
- John Tooker, Professor, Entomology
- Jack Vanden Heuvel, Professor, Molecular Toxicology
- Juliana Vasco-Correa, Assistant Professor, Agricultural & Biological Engineering*
Affiliates
- Bishwodeep Adhikari, Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering
- Onur Apul, Associate Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering
- Elizabeth Boyer, Professor of Environmental Science
- Daniel Brent, Associate Professor, Environmental & Resource Economics
- Anil Kumar Chaudhary, Assistant Professor, Agricultural & Extension Education*
- Yen-Chih Chen, Associate Professor, Environmental Engineering
- Stephen Chmely, Assistant Professor, Agricultural & Biological Engineering*
- Shirley Clark, Professor, Environmental Engineering
- Estelle Couradeau, Assistant Professor, Soils & Environmental Microbiology*
- Lisa Emili, Associate Professor, Physical Geography & Environmental Studies
- Jennifer Fetter, Extension Educator, Water Resources*
- Erika Ganda, Assistant Professor of Food Animal Microbiomes*
- Michael Mashtare, Assistant Professor, Agricultural & Biological Engineering*
- Tami Mysliwiec, Associate Professor of Biology, Penn State Berks*
- Belén Noroña, Assistant Professor of Geography
- Hlengilizwe Nyoni, Assistant Research Professor, Energy & Environmental Sustainability Laboratories
- Andrew Read, Professor of Biology and Entomology, Senior Vice President for Research
- Rui Shi, Assistant Professor, Chemical Engineering*
- Femeena Pandara Valappil, Assistant Professor, Agricultural and Biological Engineering
- Tamie Veith, Agricultural Engineer, USDA Agricultural Research Service
- Meng Wang, Assistant Professor, Environmental Systems Engineering*
- Nathaniel Warner, Associate Professor, Civil & Environmental Engineering
- Sarah Whitney, Director, Pennsylvania Sea Grant
- Xiaoshi Zhang, Assistant Professor of Polymer Engineering and Science
- Tawanda Zimudzi, Associate Research Professor, Molecular Spectroscopy
Related College of Agricultural Sciences Research Impact Areas
Funding Targets
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
- Research for Understanding PFAS Uptake and Bioaccumulation in Plant and Animals in Agricultural, Rural, and Tribal Communities
- Funded projects:
- Novel, bio-enabled strategies to prevent per- and polyfluoralkyl substances accumulation in crops and food webs, $1.6M awarded to University of Virginia, 09/01/24 - 08/31/28
- Developing Integrated Mitigation Strategies to Help Farmers Reduce PFAS Risks in Forage and Livestock Systems, $1.6M awarded to University of Maine, 09/01/24 - 08/31/27
- PFAS in land-applied biosolids in agricultural settings: a mechanistic understanding on fate and mitigation, $1.6M awarded to University of Utah, 10/01/24 - 09/30/27
- PFAS Accumulation in Finfish and Shellfish Species within the Coastal and Inland Waters of the Peskotomuhkati (Passamaquoddy) Homelands, $1.6M awarded to Sipyak Environmental Department, Passamaquoddy Tribe, 12/01/24 - 11/30/28
- Plant Uptake and Mitigation of PFAS Associated with Sewage Effluent and Biosolids Application in Tile-Drained Fields, $1.6M awarded to University of Illinois, 10/01/24 - 09/30/27
- Investigating the Effects of Irrigation Water, Compost and Biosolid Qualities on PFAS Uptake by Edible Crops in Urban Gardens and Farms, $800K awarded to Temple University, 09/01/24 - 08/31/27
- Evaluating and mitigating bioaccumulation of PFAS in plant, mammalian, and aquaculture systems, $1.6M awarded to Texas Tech University, 09/01/24 - 08/31/28
- Comprehensive evaluation of fate, transport, bioaccumulation and management solution of PFAS on a crop and livestock farm that received biosolids, $1.6M awarded to Michigan State University, 10/01/24 - 09/30/27
- PFAS-MAPS: PFAS Mitigation and Monitoring in Amended Plant Systems, $1.6M awarded Texas Engineering Experiment Station, 09/01/24 - 08/31/28
- Practical Management of PFAS contaminated agricultural soil using an innovative platform developed through integrated experimental research and machine learning approaches, $1.6 awarded to SUNY Albany, 09/01/24 - 08/31/28
- Funded projects:
