Occurrence of Selected Pharmaceuticals, Personal-Care Products, Organic Wastewater Compounds, and Pesticides in the Lower Tallapoosa River Watershed near Montgomery, Alabama, 2005

Synthetic and natural organic compounds derived from agricultural operations, residential development, and treated and untreated sanitary and industrial wastewater discharges can contribute contaminants to surface and ground waters. Such compounds include pesticides, human and veterinary antibiotics and pharmaceuticals, and some of the degradates of these compounds. Also included are a group of compounds, collectively referred to as organic wastewater compounds (OWCs), that are present in sanitary waste or are disposed in wastewater and include compounds found in personal-care products (for example, fragrances, lotions, soaps, and sunscreen products), food additives, detergents and their metabolites, plastics, and other industrial and household products.