HydroFATE v1.1
A Global Contaminant Fate Model
HydroFATE provides insights into how contaminants move through and accumulate in rivers and lakes around the world. Scroll down to learn more, or click on the map to explore the journey of antibiotics and the risks they present in freshwater systems globally.
Chemicals arising from human consumption
Chemicals from human use, such as pharmaceuticals, food additives, and ingredients in household or personal care products, enter river systems primarily through wastewater. These substances are commonly ingested or used in daily life and make their way into the environment after passing through treatment plants.
Pharmaceuticals Global pharmaceutical manufacturing exceeds 100,000 tons annually, with many compounds being detected in water systems worldwide. Source: World Health Organization, 2012
Personal Care Products Studies have found that the average adult uses between 6 and 12 personal care products daily, exposing them to dozens of unique chemical ingredients. Source: Environmental Working Group, 2021
Household Chemicals Common household cleaning products can contain over 500 regulated chemicals, many of which are detected in wastewater treatment plant effluents. Source: EPA Household Products Database, 2022
Wastewater facilities as point sources of contaminants
Conventional wastewater treatment facilities are often not designed to remove contaminants effectively. As a result, these compounds, even when present in minute quantities, pass through treatment processes and are discharged into natural water bodies, where they can persist or accumulate over time, posing risks to ecosystems and potentially re-entering human water supplies.
Wastewater Discharge Wastewater treatment plants in the US discharge approximately 32 billion gallons of treated effluent daily into surface waters, carrying trace amounts of pharmaceuticals and other emerging contaminants. Source: EPA Clean Watersheds Needs Survey, 2012
Treatment Efficiency Conventional activated sludge treatment, used in 90% of municipal wastewater plants, removes less than 50% of many pharmaceutical compounds. Source: Water Research 72 (2015): 377-393
HydroFATE
HydroFATE is a contaminant fate model that was developed to predict the concentrations in rivers and lakes worldwide of various contaminants that arise from wide-spread human consumption. The model aims to identify those regions that are at risk of environmental and human health impacts from contaminants and to determine those substances that contribute most to this risk.
HydroFATE has been developed using best-available information and modelling techniques and has been applied and validated at both regional and global scales.
Understanding how HydroFATE works
HydroFATE models the journey of contaminants from human consumption through wastewater systems and into river networks. The process involves tracking consumption patterns, metabolism rates, wastewater treatment, and residual discharge into waterways.
Hover over the arrows to learn more about each process.
Excretion fraction
For a detailed description of the model and its validation against field data, see this link. HydroFATE was built on the global river network HydroSHEDS, so it is easily integrated with global data layers, including a global database of wastewater treatment plants (HydroWASTE) and a global compendium of hydro-environmental characteristics (HydroATLAS).
Antibiotics in the Global River
System Arising from Human Consumption
In our most recent study, and as featured on this website, we explore the cumulative risk from antibiotics in the global river system, focusing on the 40 antibiotics most-consumed by humans.
For each river reach, we calculate the risk quotient, which is the ratio of the predicted environmental concentration to the predicted no-effect concentration (see risk map below). The risk quotients are then aggregated for all substances to identify areas of concern.
This approach allow us to identify which antibiotics are causing the most risk. Switch to the substance map using the button at the top-right of the map. On this map, the colors show the seven antibiotics we identified as the biggest contributors to risk. The top three are Amoxicillin, Cefixime, and Ceftriaxone—antibiotics that aren't usually monitored. The legend also provides information for each substance on the percent of global rivers at low or higher risk.
Explore Scenarios with HydroFATE
Visit our interactive map to explore various water quality scenarios modeled using comprehensive data from our antibiotics study. Discover how HydroFATE can help analyze and predict antibiotic fate and transport in our water systems.
Towards a Cleaner Future
HydroFATE is a powerful resource for identifying areas at risk and understanding the pathways of contaminants in aquatic environments. Its versatile design make it invaluable for researchers, policymakers, and industries aiming to address water quality challenges.
Potential Applications of HydroFATE
1. Guide field measurements
HydroFATE can be used to identify key areas where detailed field measurements and localized monitoring studies are needed to better understand the extent and magnitude of the impact.
2. Prioritize substances for further study
HydroFATE can be used to identify substances with characteristics and behaviors in aquatic environments that warrant additional laboratory experiments, the inclusion in monitoring programs, the development of advanced treatment technologies, or new measurement techniques.
3. Inform regulations, guidelines and policies
HydroFATE supports the development of screening methods that inform new regulations, guidelines and policies for waste reduction, approval of new products for market and deployment, and interventions to minimize consumption of compounds and related products that present substantial risk.
4. Enhance treatment standards
HydroFATE can be used to guide the creation or revision of treatment standards tailored to specific regions and substances.
5. Prioritize safer chemicals
HydroFATE may assist in the design and evaluation of new chemicals that degrade quickly in aquatic environments, minimizing their impact on populations and ecosystems reliant on high water quality.
Contact the HydroFATE developers
HydroFATE is a robust screening and exploratory tool. Given the uncertainties inherent in global modeling efforts, HydroFATE's results are best used as a baseline for further monitoring and assessment.
We're here to help you understand how to best utilize our tool for your specific needs. If you are unsure whether HydroFATE is the right tool for your purposes, please don't hesitate to contact us for guidance!