Legacy & Emerging Contaminants

Contaminants of concern to humans and wildlife often make their way into NYS waters due to natural processes or human activities. Many of these contaminants are labeled as “legacy” due to a firmly established body of research spanning decades on aspects relating to their prevalence, transport, and transformation in the environment. These include heavy metals such as mercury (Hg) and lead (Pb), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorine pesticides, which are synthetic organic chemicals often released from industrial or agricultural processes, and disinfection by-products (DBPs), compounds that form upon disinfection of water to make it safe for consumption. “Emerging” contaminants are compounds that have historically been unmonitored, unregulated, and (to an extent) unknown, but have come to the forefront of research in recent years due in part to improved technological capabilities and to apparent indications of risk to public health. Examples include per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), novel pesticides, pharmaceuticals, personal care products, and microplastics. The release, transport, transformation, and toxicity of these contaminants and many others causes significant health, economic, and environmental impacts, making them a problem at the regional, national, and even global levels. WRI is involved in conducting and funding research and outreach projects into the source, transport, fate, and remediation of legacy and emerging contaminants in NYS waters. 

Program Goals

  • Assess and monitor the prevalence, movement, and drivers of legacy and emerging contaminants in aquatic ecosystems with a focus on source and drinking waters.
  • Analyze environmental stressors (e.g., extreme weather events, invasive species) that influence contaminant transport, transformation, and toxicity within watersheds.
  • Investigate innovative treatment, mitigation, and remediation strategies for contaminant removal in water and wastewater.
  • Identify and evaluate connections between access to safe drinking water and community demographics
  • Advance aquatic ecosystem health research and management objectives, including emerging contaminant bioaccumulation and biomagnification, and legacy contaminant burden management in wildlife.
  • Create research summaries to effectively communicate the findings of WRI to local communities, municipalities, and state and local government agencies. This can be in the form of resource lists, fact sheets, and short communications.
  • Synthesize the research findings to create ArcGIS StoryMaps that can be shared with the staff of state and federal agencies. StoryMaps can be used to: 1) create an effective means of outreach on topics of great concern to stakeholders; 2) shed the light on crucial water quality issues that face underserved and historically excluded communities; and 3) justify capital improvements to crucial infrastructure across the state.
  • Incorporate a DEI/EJ lens into staff and intern projects revolving around drinking water contamination and the safe access to drinking water.
  • Include the findings on DEI/EJ into relevant outreach materials and disseminate the results to stakeholders.
Legacy & Emerging Contaminants Five-Year Summary

Select Projects & Publications