Matt MorraSoil & Land Resources

Chemicals of Emerging Concern in the Eastern Snake River Plain of Idaho:A Threat to Irrigated Agriculture, Dairy, and

Aquaculture?

Contaminants (Chemicals) of Emerging Concern

Contaminants not previously detected or present at concentrations not thought to be a problem.

Risks to human health and the environment not yet fully understood.

• Human pharmaceuticals• Personal care products• Endocrine disrupting compounds – interfere

with function of hormones • Veterinary drugs including antibiotics

CECs

KimberlyTwinFalls Milner Dam

SnakeRiver

ResearchPlotsGroundwaterFlowSouthern border ofEastern SnakeRiverPlain

Thousand Springs

AmericanFalls

N

Kimberly, IDUSDA-ARS Northwest Irrigation & Soils Research Lab

Agricultural activities and water use impacts on the transport of CECs to the Eastern Snake River Plain Aquifer of Idaho

CECs in Dairy Manure

Manure 1 Manure 2Compound µg/kg

Estrone 102.87 35.94Estriol 27.01 17.86Equol 675.44 0.00Progesterone 28.87 7.04Hydroxyprogesterone 66.01 49.75Sulfadimethoxine 206.12 127.92Sulfathiazole 0.00 133.46Tetracycline 0.00 364.62

Porewater sampler

Tensiometer

HPLC-MSAnalyses

Bioassays

Livercell bioassaysEndocrine disruption

FieldLaboratory

Irrigationwater

Soil

PorewaterManure

Antibiotic resistance gene spread

Soil

Lysimeterwater

ExtractsWater samples

Modeling/Recommendations

Caffeine

Ibuprofen

Progesterone

Tetracycline

Hydroxyprogesterone

Field Lysimeter Data

No difference between control and manure treatments.

BiosolidsInorganic fertilizer Manure

Biomarkers of horizontal spread of antibiotic

resistance

No evidence of xenogenetic pollution

caffeine enterodiolpenicillin equolibuprofen formonentin

17α-hydroxyprogesteroneprogesterone17α-estradiol17β-estradiolestroneestriol

No pattern based on treatment.

2 3 4 5 6Time (weeks)

0

20

40

60

80

100

Rel

ativ

e re

spon

se (%

)ManureFertilizer

• No evidence of increased antibiotic resistance gene transfer from dairy manure.

• Strong endocrine disruption response from soil leachates.

• Main source of endocrine disrupting chemicals is not manure.

• Irrigation water? Agricultural chemicals?• Manure may decrease leaching of the

responsible compounds.

Summary

This project was supported by the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative competitive grant 2013-67019-21375 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

James Nagler – fish liver bioassaysEva Top and Thibault Stalder – antibiotic resistanceInna Popova and Danika Hill – analytical chemistryJohn Hammel – soil physics (lysimeters and columns)