Geology topics

T. Ivahnenko

Publications and source records attributed to T. Ivahnenko.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2011

Nutrient loadings to streams of the continental United States from municipal and industrial effluent?

Data from the United States Environmental Protection Agency Permit Compliance System national database were used to calculate annual total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) loads to surface waters from municipal and industrial facilities in six major regions of the United States for 1992, 1997, and 2002. Concentration and effluent flow data were examined for approximately 118,250 facilities in 45 states and the District of Columbia. Inconsistent and incomplete discharge locations, effluent flows, and effluent nutrient concentrations limited the use of these data for calculating nutrient loads. More concentrations were reported for major facilities, those discharging more than 1 million gallons per day, than for minor facilities, and more concentrations were reported for TP than for TN. Analytical methods to check and improve the quality of the Permit Compliance System data were used. Annual loads were calculated using "typical pollutant concentrations" to supplement missing concentrations based on the type and size of facilities. Annual nutrient loads for over 26,600 facilities were calculated for at least one of the three years. Sewage systems represented 74% of all TN loads and 58% of all TP loads. This work represents an initial set of data to develop a comprehensive and consistent national database of point-source nutrient loads. These loads can be used to inform a wide range of water-quality management, watershed modeling, and research efforts at multiple scales.

Journal of the American Water Resources Associatio↗

USGS2005

Change in field turbidity and trace element concentrations during well purging

Various physical and chemical properties were monitored sequentially in the field during well purging as indicators of stabilization of the composition of the water in the well. Turbidity was monitored on site during purging of oxic water from three wells with screened intervals open to an unconfined aquifer system in the Coastal Plain of southern New Jersey to determine if stabilization of turbidity is a reliable indicator of the optimum purge time required to collect unbiased trace element samples. Concurrent split (one filtered, one unfiltered) samples collected during purging of the wells were analyzed for concentrations of trace elements so that the relationships between trace element concentrations and turbidity could be compared. Turbidity correlated with the whole water recoverable (WWR) concentration of trace element species, such as iron (Fe), aluminum (Al), and manganese (Mn) in the oxic ground water. Turbidity appeared to be independent of other field-measured characteristics of water such as conductivity, pH, temperature, and dissolved oxygen. The WWR concentration of lead and copper, considered to be hydrophobic, correlated significantly with the sum of the WWR concentration of Fe, Al, and Mn. High values of field-measured turbidity were a key indicator of an overestimate of ambient hydrophobic trace element WWR concentrations. Stabilization of turbidity was a better indicator of stable, unfiltered trace element concentrations than were the other commonly measured field characteristics. At one well, turbidity was a better indicator of stable, filtered trace element concentrations than the other commonly measured field characteristics. As analytical methods for trace elements improve resulting in smaller MRLs (method reporting levels) and better precision, turbidity of ground water at values of less than 10 NTU (nepheiometric turbidity units) will become important in interpreting the significance of both unfiltered and filtered sample results.

New Jersey↗

USGS2005

Mercury concentrations in water from an unconfined aquifer system, New Jersey coastal plain

Concentrations of total mercury (Hg) from 2 μg/L (the USEPA maximum contaminant level) to 72 μg/L in water from about 600 domestic wells in residential parts of eight counties in southern New Jersey have been reported by State and county agencies. The wells draw water from the areally extensive (7770 km 2 ) unconfined Kirkwood–Cohansey aquifer system, in which background concentrations of Hg are about 0.01 μg/L or less. Hg is present in most aquifer materials at concentrations <50 μg/kg, but is at 100–150 μg/kg in undisturbed surficial soils. No point sources of contamination to the affected areas have been conclusively identified. To determine whether high levels of Hg in ground water are related to a particular land use and (or) water chemistry, water samples from 105 wells that tap the aquifer system were collected by the United States Geological Survey. These included randomly selected domestic wells, domestic and observation wells in selected land uses, and sets of clustered observation wells—including two sets that are downgradient from residential areas with Hg-contaminated ground water. Hg concentrations in filtered samples (Hg f ) were at or near background levels in water from most wells, but ranged from 0.1 to 3.8 μg/L in water from nearly 20% of wells. Hg f concentrations from 0.0001 to 0.1 μg/L correlated significantly and positively with concentrations of other constituents associated with anthropogenic inputs (Ca, Cl, Na, and NO 3 ) and with dissolved organic carbon. Hg f concentrations >0.1 μg/L did not correlate significantly with concentrations of the inorganic constituents. Hg f concentrations near or exceeding 2 μg/L were found only in water from wells in areas with residential land use, but concentrations were at background levels in most water samples from undeveloped land. The spatial distribution of Hg-contaminated ground water appears to be locally and regionally heterogeneous; no extensive plumes of Hg contamination have yet been identified.

New Jersey↗

USGS2001

Changes in sample collection and analytical techniques and effects on retrospective comparability of low-level concentrations of trace elements in ground water

Ground-water sampling techniques were modified to reduce random low-level contamination during collection of filtered water samples for determination of trace-element concentrations. The modified sampling techniques were first used in New Jersey by the US Geological Survey in 1994 along with inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) analysis to determine the concentrations of 18 trace elements at the one microgram-per-liter (μg/L) level in the oxic water of the unconfined sand and gravel Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer system. The revised technique tested included a combination of the following: collection of samples (1) with flow rates of about 2L per minute, (2) through acid-washed single-use disposable tubing and (3) a single-use disposable 0.45-μm pore size capsule filter, (4) contained within portable glove boxes, (5) in a dedicated clean sampling van, (6) only after turbidity stabilized at values less than 2 nephelometric turbidity units (NTU), when possible. Quality-assurance data, obtained from equipment blanks and split samples, indicated that trace element concentrations, with the exception of iron, chromium, aluminum, and zinc, measured in the samples collected in 1994 were not subject to random contamination at 1μg/L.Results from samples collected in 1994 were compared to those from samples collected in 1991 from the same 12 PVC-cased observation wells using the available sampling and analytical techniques at that time. Concentrations of copper, lead, manganese and zinc were statistically significantly lower in samples collected in 1994 than in 1991. Sampling techniques used in 1994 likely provided trace-element data that represented concentrations in the aquifer with less bias than data from 1991 when samples were collected without the same degree of attention to sample handling.

Water Research↗