Assessment of priority pollutant concentrations in the United States using storet database

Abstract

AbstractThe examination of the 80,000,000 STORET data points for priority pollutant concentrations yielded principles for system usage to determine the individual occurrence of these pollutants in U.S. waterways. A case study on a representative priority pollutant (butyl benzyl phthalate) is presented in detail to highlight the characteristics of the database. The use of data from the 1980s only is recommended, based on the number of data points and the likelihood that better quality assurance practices were employed. Mean values should not be used because aberrant values dominate the additive mean and can exceed statistical probability (p << 0.01). Since geometric mean calculations are not readily available within the system, the use of median values based on ambient or effluent sampling points and excluding landfill sampling sites is recommended. Careful documentation of nondetectable values is also necessary to reduce errors associated with statistical analysis. Eighty‐six of the 110 (78%) organic priority pollutants are not detectable in U.S. waterways. Of the 24 chemicals detected, only 5 exceed an ambient median water concentration of 0.3 μg/L. Ninety‐five of the 110 (86%) are not detectable in industrial effluents; the maximum median value of 10 μg/L was reported for four organic priority pollutants. Seventy‐nine percent of the organic priority pollutants are not detected in sediments; all but seven medians are less than 15 μ/kg. Eighty‐seven percent are not detected in biota; all but three medians are less than 0.25 mg/kg.