Scientists grapple with monitoring water contaminants too small to detect

By Samantha Hogan and Heather Mongilio

There are tens of thousands of potential chemicals in U.S. waters, and — despite decades of research — scientists continue to struggle to identify and quantify which ones matter to human health.

Modern water regulations have succeeded in making the U.S. public drinking water supply the safest it has ever been, said Michael Focazio, manager of environmental health programs as the U.S. Geological Survey. However, a wide class of pesticides, hormones and pharmaceuticals — known as “contaminants of emerging concern” — also exist in the environment in unknown amounts and mixtures.

“They’re going to continue to emerge because there’s so many of them,” Focazio said.

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