Just about all household chemicals on the market, from pharmaceuticals and hormones to detergents and disinfectants, have, in one form or another, found their way into aquatic environments. Most of the data on these substances have come from Europe, and until recently, little has been known about the prevalence of such compounds in U.S. waters. Researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), however, have been working to change that.

In the March 15 issue of ES&T (pp. 1202–1211), Dana Kolpin and colleagues at the USGS report some of the first monitoring data for pharmaceuticals, hormones, and other emerging organic contaminants in streams throughout the United States. The study is the first in a series of USGS reports on the topic and looks at 95 contaminants from industrial, human, and agricultural wastewater sources, in 139 U.S. streams during 1999–2000. Data from the stream study are available on the Web in a companion USGS Open-File Report.

In a feature article in the April 1 issue of ES&T [pp. 140A–145A (400 kb PDF)], Britt E. Erickson examines how little is known about these emerging organic contaminants, in terms of their toxicity and behavior in the environment, and how U.S. and European risk-assessment attitudes differ. She considers what it takes to become a targeted wastewater pollutant, pointing out that if history is any indication, it has a lot to do with the availability of analytical methods and reference standards.

Because of the great flurry of interest in the USGS stream monitoring study, ES&T has decided to make Erickson’s feature available before its April 1, 2002, publication date, so that its release coincides with the publication of the Kolpin et al. paper.