Pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) in the Clark Fork, MT and other rivers

The Riverine Pharmaceutical Assessment, Collection, Education (RiverPACE) project addresses the influence of pharmaceutical products found in running water systems on river ecosystem form and function.

The PACE project is coordinated by Drs. Jesse Becker, Melody Bernot, and Thomas Lauer from Ball State University.  Dr. Bernot and Dr. Valett have collaborated on multiple projects and publications in the past.

Our site at the University of Montana is one of many distributed across the United States (Fig. 1).

Initial results (Fig. 1)  show the Clark Fork has measurable levels of PPCPs, but concentrations are low compared to other locations.