Click on “Download PDF” for the PDF version or on the title for the HTML version.


If you are not an ASABE member or if your employer has not arranged for access to the full-text, Click here for options.

Organic Contaminants in Onsite Wastewater Treatment Systems

Published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org

Citation:  Eleventh Individual and Small Community Sewage Systems Conference Proceedings, 20-24 October 2007, Warwick, Rhode Island  701P1107cd.(doi:10.13031/2013.23978)
Authors:   Kathleen E Conn, Robert L Siegrist, Larry B Barber, Gregory K Brown
Keywords:   Individual organic compounds, endocrine disrupting compounds, non-residential wastewater, biofilter treatment, water quality monitoring

Wastewater from 30 onsite wastewater treatment systems was sampled during a reconnaissance field study to quantify bulk parameters and the occurrence of organic wastewater contaminants including endocrine disrupting compounds. Treatment systems represented a variety of wastewater sources and treatment processes. Receiving environments including surface water and groundwater was also sampled. Bulk parameters ranged in concentrations representative of the wide variety of wastewater sources (residential and non-residential). Organic contaminants such as sterols, surfactant metabolites, antimicrobial agents, stimulants, metal-chelating agents, and other consumer product chemicals, measured by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry were detected frequently in onsite system wastewater. Wastewater composition was unique between source type likely due to differences in source water and chemical usage. Removal efficiencies varied by engineered treatment type and physicochemical properties of the contaminant, often resulting in discharge to the soil treatment unit at ecotoxicologically relevant concentrations. Organic wastewater contaminants were detected less frequently and at lower concentrations in onsite system receiving environments. Understanding the occurrence and fate of organic wastewater contaminants in onsite wastewater treatment systems will aid in minimizing risk to ecological and human health.

(Download PDF)    (Export to EndNotes)