Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2006ND100B

Farm-Scale Reconnaissance of Estrogens in Subsurface Waters

Institute: North Dakota
Year Established: 2006 Start Date: 2006-03-01 End Date: 2007-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $9,600 Total Non-Federal Funds: $19,200

Principal Investigators: Francis Casey

Project Summary: Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are present in animal manures applied to the soil. There is increasing concern on both state and regional levels that EDCs may be leaching to ground water, and that it may be posing a threat to human health through drinking water. Because of this, the fate and transport of EDCs is an important problem of both state and regional concern.This project proposes to identify the causes of the unexpectedly high 17estradiol detections in a shallow aquifer. This research will focus on the following hypotheses for causes: (1) There exists high levels of background 17estradiol from the lagoon material the farmers inject in the field; (2) High water-table conditions cause a cool and anaerobic environment in which 17estradiol persists; and (3) The ground water that contains the 17estradiol is transporting exogenous hormones into the lysimeters in soil horizon.