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Laboratory results for anthropogenic bioactive chemicals in the Illinois Waterway upstream and downstream of the bigheaded carp population front (2015; ver. 2.0, February 2020) Edition 2.0

Metadata Updated: October 30, 2025

Two non-native bigheaded carp species have invaded the Illinois River system and are a potential threat to the Great Lakes ecosystem. Discharges from industry, wastewater treatment plants, and urban and agricultural runoff, may be a factor contributing to the stalling of the upstream movement of the bigheaded carp population front near Illinois Waterway mile 278. In 2015, the U.S. Geological Survey collected 4 sets of water samples under a range of seasonal and hydrologic conditions from 3 locations upstream and 4 locations downstream from river mile 278 using a Lagrangian-style sampling strategy. Water samples were analyzed for over 639 constituents of which 280 were detected at least once, including many anthropogenic bioactive chemicals (ABCs) such as pesticides, pharmaceuticals, hormones, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Many ABCs were detected upstream of river mile 278, and some persisted or were introduced downstream. For example, in June 2015, at river mile 286, sampling detected 43 of 105 pharmaceuticals (total concentration and total load of 9,251 nanograms per liter (ng/L) and 66.2 kilograms per day (kg/d), respectively); 46 of 251 pesticides (total concentration and load of 5,956 ng/L and 84.5 kg/d); 9 of 55 wastewater indicator chemicals (total concentration and load of 4,092 ng/L and 58.0 kg/d); and 10 of 116 VOCs (total concentration and load of 9,626 ng/L and 137 kg/d). By the time that water moved downstream to river mile 243, sampling detected 13 pharmaceuticals (total concentration and load of 417 ng/L and 27.8 kg/d); 51 pesticides (total concentration and load of 11,207 ng/L and 1,687 kg/d); 5 wastewater indicator chemicals (total concentration and load of 309 ng/L and 46.5 kg/d); and 2 VOCs (total concentration and load of 340 ng/L and 51 kg/d). This set of tables is a revised version of the original tables. There are 11 data tables provided in this data release: Carboxylic_Acids_Data_Revised.csv, Discharge_Field_Ions_Data_Revised.csv, Disinfection_By_Products_Data_Revised.csv, Hormones_Data_Revised.csv, Metals_Data_Revised.csv, Nutrients_Data_Revised.csv, Other_Wastewater_Indicators_Data_Revised.csv, Pesticides_Data_Revised.csv, Pharmaceuticals_Data_Revised.csv, Site_Information_Revised.csv, and Volatile_Organic_Compounds_Data_Revised.csv.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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Dates

Metadata Created Date September 14, 2025
Metadata Updated Date October 30, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date September 14, 2025
Metadata Updated Date October 30, 2025
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/usgs-5e41942fe4b0edb47be63a87
Data Last Modified 2020-08-13T00:00:00Z
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 7bd0d2a7-215a-4501-bfbc-d33810dd283e
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -90.7333, 39.0576, -87.7451, 41.8655
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 1861caf90fa35e0c0c87577e96c835651c567edfa7ea864dbe2b64fae9e5ea23
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -90.7333, 39.0576, -90.7333, 41.8655, -87.7451, 41.8655, -87.7451, 39.0576, -90.7333, 39.0576}

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