U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet 2009–3007

March 2009

Prepared in cooperation with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe

Occurrence of Emerging Contaminants in Water and Bed 

Material in the Missouri River, North Dakota, 2007

By William C. Damschen and Robert F. Lundgren

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, conducted a reconnaissance 

study to determine the occurrence of emerging contaminants in water and bed sediment within the Missouri River upstream 

and downstream from the cities of Bismarck and Mandan, North Dakota, and upstream from the city of Fort Yates, North 

Dakota, during September–October 2007. At each site, water samples were collected twice and bed-sediment samples were 

collected once. Samples were analyzed for more than 200 emerging contaminants grouped into four compound classes—

wastewater compounds, human-health pharmaceutical compounds, hormones, and antibiotics. Only sulfamethoxazole, an 

antibiotic, was present at a concentration higher than minimum detection limits. It was detected in a water sample collected 

downstream from the cities of Bismarck and Mandan, and in bed-sediment samples collected at the two sites downstream 

from the cities of Bismarck and Mandan and upstream from Fort Yates. Sulfamethoxazole is an antibiotic commonly used 

for treating bacterial infections in humans and animals.

Introduction

Tribal members of the Standing 

Rock Sioux Reservation are concerned 

about the quality of water on the reservation and that some of the drinking water 

consumed on the reservation is adversely 

affecting human health (Damschen and 

Lundgren, 2007). Emerging contaminants 

are chemical and microbial materials that 

have the potential to enter the environment and cause known or suspected 

adverse ecological and (or) humanhealth effects but that are not commonly 

monitored in the environment. Emerging 

contaminants are materials commonly 

derived from municipal, agricultural, and 

industrial wastewater sources and pathways and can be various manufactured 

and natural organic compounds, such as 

pharmaceuticals, steroids, surfactants, 

flame retardants, fragrances, plasticizers 

and other chemicals (Focazio and others, 

2008). Some of these materials entering 

the environment have known ecological 

and human health risks; however, the 

health risks for a large number of these 

materials individually and as mixtures are 

not currently known. 

Sampling Locations

Water and bed-sediment samples 

were collected at three sites on the Missouri River: upstream and downstream 

from Bismarck and Mandan wastewater 

treatment plants, and upstream from 

the Missouri River Intake water treatment facility in Fort Yates, North Dakota 

(table 1 and figure 1). At each site, water 

samples were collected twice (September 

and October) and bed-sediment samples 

were collected once (October). Samples 

were analyzed for emerging contaminant 

materials that were grouped into the 

Table 1. Sampling site information.

Sampling site USGS station number Site name

1 465245100530500 Missouri River above Bismarck/Mandan, 

North Dakota

2 464445100493500 Missouri River below Bismarck/Mandan, 

North Dakota

3 460533100371900 Missouri River above Fort Yates, North 

Dakota

following categories: wastewater compounds in water, human-health pharmaceutical compounds in water, hormones 

in water, antibiotics in water, waste 

indicators in solids, hormones in solids, 

and antibiotics in solids.

Methods

Samples were collected and processed using standard USGS techniques 

(U.S. Geological Survey, variously 

dated). Where possible, water samples 

were collected using width- and depthintegrating procedures. The bed-sediment 
#

"

Sample site and number 1

Major city

Standing Rock Sioux Reservation

EXPLANATION

"

Mandan Bismarck

1

2

Apple Creek

Heart River

Big

Muddy

Creek

Sweet Briar Creek

Antelope Creek

Crown Butte Creek

Cannonball

River

Cedar Creek

Porcupine Creek

Beaver Creek

Missouri

River

3

Fort Yates

Lake Oahe

NORTH DAKOTA

SOUTH DAKOTA

Oak

Creek

Creek

Grand

River

Black Horse Butte

High Bank Creek

Firesteel

Creek

SOUTH DAKOTA

NEBRASKA

MINNESOTA

WYOMING

IOWA

CANADA

0 5 10 20 MILES

0 10 20 KILOMETERS

102° 101°

46°

45°

MONTANA NORTH DAKOTA

Figure 1. Locations of the Standing Rock 

Sioux Reservation and sample sites along the 

Missouri River.
samples were collected from locations 

that adequately represented the water 

body of interest. Special procedures, such 

as avoiding use of insect repellents, sunscreen, tobacco, caffeine, and pharmaceutical drugs by the sampling team, were 

adhered to during sample collection (U.S. 

Geological Survey, variously dated). 

Analyses for 68 wastewater compounds in water, 16 human-health pharmaceutical compounds in water, 32 hormones in water, 61 waste indicators in 

solids, and 32 hormones in solids were 

performed at the USGS National Water 

Quality Laboratory in Denver, Colorado 

(Zaugg and others, 2002; Burkhardt and 

others, 2006; Furlong and others, 2008). 

Analyses for 33 antibiotics in water 

and solids were performed at the USGS 

Organic Geochemistry Research Laboratory in Lawrence, Kansas, using methods 

modified from Meyer and others (2007) 

and Jacobson and others (2004).

Analytical Results

Analytical results indicated no 

compound concentrations higher than 

minimum detection limits with the exception of one antibiotic compound concentration. Sulfamethoxazole was detected in 

three separate samples: one water sample 

collected from site 2 (0.014 micrograms 

per liter), a bed-sediment sample from 

site 2 (28 micrograms per kilogram), 

and a bed-sediment sample from site 3 

(2.3 micrograms per kilogram). Sulfamethoxazole is an antibacterial sulfonamide that is used to treat diseases 

such as bronchitis, middle-ear infection, 

urinary tract infection, conjunctivitis, 

malaria, toxoplasmosis, and traveler’s 

diarrhea. It is also a widely prescribed 

veterinary antibiotic used to treat diseases 

and infections and is included in feed 

additives to promote growth and weight 

gain of food animals (National Research 

Council, 1999).

The data from this study are stored 

in the USGS National Water Information 

System database and are available online 

at http://nwis.waterdata.usgs.gov/nd/

nwis/qw

References

Burkhardt, M.R., Zaugg, S.D., Smith, 

S.G., and ReVello, R.C., 2006, Determination of wastewater compounds in 

sediment and soil by pressurized solvent extraction, solid-phase extraction, 

and capillary-column gas chromatography/mass spectrometry: U.S. Geological Survey Techniques and Methods, 

book 5, chap B2, 33 p. 

Damschen, W.C., and Lundgren, R.F., 

2007, Water, bed-sediment, and fishtissue quality within the Standing Rock 

Sioux Reservation, North Dakota and 

South Dakota, September 2006: U.S. 

Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2007–5268, 29 p.

Focazio, M.J., Kolpin, D.W., Barnes, 

K.K., Furlong, E.T., Meyer, M.T., 

Zaugg, S.D., Barber, L.B., and Thurman, E.M., 2008, A national reconnaissance of pharmaceuticals and 

other organic wastewater contaminants 

in the United States—II. Untreated 

drinking water sources: Science of the 

Total Environment, v. 402, no. 2–3, 

p. 201–216. 

Furlong, E.T., Werner, S.L., Anderson, 

B.D., and Cahill, J.D., 2008, Determination of human-health pharmaceuticals in filtered water by chemically 

modified styrene-divinylbenzene 

resin-based solid-phase extraction and 

high-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry: U.S. Geological Survey Techniques and Methods, 

book 5, chap. B5, 56 p.

Jacobsen, A.M., Halling-Sørensen, Flemming I.B., and Hansen S.H., 2004, 

Simultaneous extraction of tetracycline, macrolide and sulfonamide 

antibiotics from agricultural soils using 

pressurised liquid extraction, followed 

by solid-phase extraction and liquid 

chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry: Journal of Chromatography, 

v. 1038, Is. 1–2, p. 157–170.

Meyer, M.T., Lee, E.A., Ferrell, G.M., 

Bumgarner, J.E., and Varns, Jerry, 

2007, Evaluation of offline tandem 

and online solid-phase extraction 

with liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry 

for analysis of antibiotics in ambient 

water and comparison to an independent method: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 

2007–5021, 28 p.

National Research Council, 1999, The 

use of drugs in food animals: Washington, D.C., National Academy Press, 

253 p.

U.S. Geological Survey, variously dated, 

National field manual for the collection 

of water-quality data: U.S. Geological 

Survey Techniques of Water-Resources 

Investigations, book 9, chaps. A1–A9, 

available online at http://pubs.water.

usgs.gov/twri9A

Zaugg, S.D., Smith, S.G., Schroeder, 

M.P., Barber, L.B., and Burkhardt, 

M.R., 2002, Methods of analysis by 

the U.S. Geological Survey National 

Water Quality Laboratory—Determination of wastewater compounds 

by polystyrene-divinylbenzene 

solid-phase extraction and capillarycolumn gas chromatography/mass 

spectrometry: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations 

Report 01–4186, 37 p.

Aerial photograph of 

Fort Yates, North Dakota.