In cooperation with the Ohio Department of Health Preliminary Investigation of Wastewater-Related Contaminants near Home Sewage Treatment Systems in Ohio Open-File Report 2005–1282 U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey Report Documentation Page Form Approved OMB No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for the collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington VA 22202-4302. Respondents should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be subject to a penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number. 1. REPORT DATE 2. REPORT TYPE 3. DATES COVERED 2005 N/A - 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER Preliminary Investigation of Wastewater-Related Contaminants Near 5b. GRANT NUMBER Home Sewage Treatment Systems in Ohio 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) 5d. PROJECT NUMBER 5e. TASK NUMBER 5f. WORK UNIT NUMBER 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION U.S. Department of the Interior 1849 C Street NW Washington, DC REPORT NUMBER 20240 9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10. SPONSOR/MONITOR’S ACRONYM(S) 11. SPONSOR/MONITOR’S REPORT NUMBER(S) 12. DISTRIBUTION/AVAILABILITY STATEMENT Approved for public release, distribution unlimited 13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES The original document contains color images. 14. ABSTRACT 15. SUBJECT TERMS 16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: 17. LIMITATION OF 18. NUMBER 19a. NAME OF ABSTRACT OF PAGES RESPONSIBLE PERSON a. REPORT b. ABSTRACT c. THIS PAGE SAR 35 unclassified unclassified unclassified Standard Form 298 (Rev. 8-98) Prescribed by ANSI Std Z39-18 Cover images: USGS employees installing piezometers (photos by D.H. Dumouchelle, U.S.Geological Survey). Preliminary Investigation of Wastewater- Related Contaminants near Home Sewage Treatment Systems in Ohio By D.H. Dumouchelle and D.M. Stoeckel In cooperation with the Ohio Department of Health Open-File Report 2005–1282 U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey U.S. Department of the Interior Gale A. Norton, Secretary U.S. Geological Survey P. Patrick Leahy, Acting Director U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia: 2005 For sale by U.S. Geological Survey, Information Services Box 25286, Denver Federal Center Denver, CO 80225 For more information about the USGS and its products: Telephone: 1-888-ASK-USGS World Wide Web: http://www.usgs.gov/ Any use of trade, product, or firm names in this publication is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Although this report is in the public domain, permission must be secured from the individual copyright owners to reproduce any copyrighted materials contained within this report. Suggested citation: Dumouchelle, D.H., Stoeckel, D.M., 2005, Preliminary investigation of wastewater-related contaminants near home sewage treatment systems in Ohio: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2005–1282, 31 p. iii Contents Abstract ...........................................................................................................................................................1 Introduction.....................................................................................................................................................1 Methods...........................................................................................................................................................1 Site Selection.........................................................................................................................................2 Piezometer Installation ........................................................................................................................4 Water-Quality Sampling Methods and Analysis ..............................................................................4 Nutrients and Chloride ................................................................................................................4 Nitrogen and Oxygen Isotopes and Wastewater Compounds .............................................4 E. coli Sampling and Analysis Methods ...................................................................................5 Coliphage Sampling and Analysis Methods ............................................................................7 Description of Sampling Locations .............................................................................................................7 Phase 2—Unsampled Sites ................................................................................................................7 Phase 2—Sampled Sites .....................................................................................................................9 Phase 3 Sites .........................................................................................................................................9 GR–750 .........................................................................................................................................10 GR–752 .........................................................................................................................................11 LI–16 .........................................................................................................................................11 Occurrences and Sources of Wastewater-Related Compounds ........................................................12 Nutrients ...............................................................................................................................................12 Chloride.................................................................................................................................................13 Bacteria and rep-PCR Analysis ........................................................................................................14 GR–750 .........................................................................................................................................14 GR–752 .........................................................................................................................................14 LI–16 .........................................................................................................................................14 Nitrogen Isotopes and Wastewater Compounds .........................................................................17 Interpretations of Water-Quality Results .................................................................................................18 Limitations of the Pilot Study and Suggestions for Future Investigations ..........................................20 Summary........................................................................................................................................................20 Acknowledgments ..............................................................................................................................21 References Cited..........................................................................................................................................21 Appendix 1. Technical Details of E. coli Typing by Use of rep-PCR .....................................................26 Cultivation and Isolation ....................................................................................................................26 Generation of PCR Products .............................................................................................................26 Appendix 2. Details on Unsampled Phase 2 Sites ..................................................................................28 Appendix 3. Details on Sampled Sites, Phases 2 and 3 .........................................................................30 iv Figures 1. Soil regions of Ohio ......................................................................................................................3 2. Location of phase 2 and phase 3 sites ......................................................................................8 3. Schematic of septic system and piezometers at site GR-750 in Greene County, Ohio ..............................................................................................................10 4. Schematic of septic system and piezometers at site GR-752 in Greene County, Ohio ..............................................................................................................11 5. Schematic of septic system and piezometers at site LI-16 in Licking County, Ohio ...............................................................................................................12 6. Example of results of rep-PCR analysis showing six isolates and multiple measurements of a single isolate, demonstrating the reproducibility of results .....................................................................................................16 Tables 1. Wastewater-method compound names, USGS National Water Quality Laboratory reporting limits, and possible compound uses ....................................................5 2. Counties, soil regions, and numbers of sites investigated in Ohio .......................................7 3. Location, rainfall, and screen-interval data for sites with piezometers that could not be sampled in Ohio .............................................................................................9 4. Locations, rainfall, screen intervals, and samples collected for Phase 2 sites in Ohio ..............................................................................................................9 5. Specific conductance and chloride and nutrient concentrations in ground-water samples from phase 2 and phase 3 piezometers at various sites in Ohio ...............................................................................................................13 6. Escherichia coli and coliphage anaylses of ground-water samples from phase 2 and phase 3 piezometers at various sites in Ohio .........................................15 7. Sites and characteristics of isolates in those Operational Taxonomic Units found from more than one source ...........................................................................................17 8. Nitrogen and oxygen isotope ratios in ground-water samples from phase 3 piezometers at sites GR-750 and GR-752, Greene County, Ohio ..........................18 9. Wastewater-compound concentrations in ground-water samples from phase 3 piezometers at GR-750, Greene County, Ohio .........................................................18 10. Wastewater-compound concentrations in ground-water samples from phase 3 piezometers at GR-752, Greene County, Ohio .........................................................18 11. Summary of water-quality and E. coli data indicating the movement of untreated waste water from home sewage treatment systems to adjacent piezometers ............................................................................................................19 v Conversion Factors and Abbreviations Multiply By To obtain Length inch (in.) 2.54 centimeter (cm) inch (in.) 25.4 millimeter (mm) foot (ft) 0.3048 meter (m) mile (mi) 1.609 kilometer (km) Volume gallon (gal) 0.003785 cubic meter (m3) Flow rate inches per hour (in/h) 0.0254 meter per hour (m/h) inches per year (in/yr) 25.4 millimeter per year (mm/yr) million gallons per day (Mgal/d) 0.04381 cubic meter per second (m3/s) Temperature in degrees Celsius (°C) may be converted to degrees Fahrenheit (°F) as follows: °F=(1.8×°C)+32 Temperature in degrees Fahrenheit (°F) may be converted to degrees Celsius (°C) as follows: °C=(°F-32)/1.8 Specific conductance is given in microsiemens per centimeter at 25 degrees Celsius (μS/cm at 25 °C). Small sample volumes are reported in milliliters (mL) and microliters (μL). Concentrations of chemical constituents in water are given either in milligrams per liter (mg/L), micrograms per liter (μg/L), or nanograms per microliter (ng/μL). vi Preliminary Investigations of Wastewater-Related Contaminants Near Home Sewage Treatment Systems in Ohio By D.H. Dumouchelle and D.M. Stoeckel Abstract Introduction The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the A properly designed and operating home sewage treat- Ohio Department of Health, investigated the occurrence and ment system (HSTS) is capable of removing suspended solids, sources of wastewater-related contaminants near home sew- biodegradable organic compounds, and fecal bacteria. If age treatment systems (HSTS). Piezometers were installed treatment is incomplete, contaminants can reach ground water near active leach lines at 20 sites among 9 Ohio counties. or surface water. Many HSTSs rely, at least in part, on soils to Despite an unusually wet year, water samples could not be treat and filter wastewater. Poor soil drainage, high seasonal obtained from piezometers at eight sites; at 5 of the other water tables, or shallow bedrock can contribute to the failure 12 sites, water could be obtained from only one piezom- of an HSTS to completely treat wastewater. An assessment eter. Water samples from the piezometers were analyzed for of Ohio soils indicates that less than 10 percent are suitable nutrients, chloride, and Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria to for an HSTS using traditional leach lines (Mancl and Slater, determine whether untreated wastewater was migrating away 2001). from the systems. Additional water samples were collected at The U. S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation two sites and analyzed for nitrogen isotopes and wastewater with the Ohio Department of Health (ODH), designed a pilot compounds. At three sites, bacteria were analyzed by means study to obtain a better understanding of the quality of water of repetitive DNA element polymerase chain reaction (rep- exiting HSTSs and investigate the usefulness of genetic finger- PCR) to indicate the source of the bacteria. printing analysis in determining the source of any fecal-related Nitrate concentrations ranged from 0.2 to 25.9 milli- bacteria found. During the summer and fall 2003 and early grams per liter (mg/L) but exceeded 10 mg/L, an indication winter 2004, the USGS installed and sampled piezometers of wastewater influence, at only two sites. Chloride concen- near HSTSs. These systems are intended to treat sewage, so trations ranged from 18.4 to 1,150 mg/L; concentrations in failure would be defined by indications of untreated effluent in excess of 200 mg/L, which may indicate some influence of the soils surrounding the leach field. This report is a detailed wastewater, were found at five sites. E. coli were found in description of the methods used in and the results derived from water from piezometers at three sites. Water samples from two the USGS-ODH study. of these E. coli -positive sites were analyzed for nitrogen iso- topes and wastewater compounds. The nitrate concentrations were too low for accurate isotopic analysis; however, various Methods wastewater compounds were found in samples from both sites, indicating wastewater movement. The rep-PCR process This study was done in three phases—site selection, provided evidence of a linkage between the bacteria from initial sampling, and intensive sampling at select sites. During HSTS to bacteria found in piezometers at several sites and to Phase 1 geographic information system (GIS) data sets of soils a curtain drain. The results of the water quality and rep-PCR were analyzed to select a number of potential sites for phase 2 analysis indicate that untreated wastewater can move laterally work. During phase 2, ground water was sampled at selected several feet from HSTS to the piezometers. sites by use of piezometers installed within a few feet of a leach line. Ground water was sampled for nutrients, chloride, and Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria concentrations. Sites at which E. coli were found were considered for inclusion in phase 3. In phase 3, done at two sites, additional piezometers