Use of Boron as a Tracer for Recycled Water in Brackish Aquifers
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 132, Issue 8
Abstract
An investigation was conducted to develop a simple method for tracking the fate and transport of recycled water following recharge into a shallow brackish aquifer (caprock aquifer) in a coastal area on the Island of Oahu, Hawaii. Several naturally present chemical constituents including the boron isotopic signature were used to characterize each of the caprock aquifer source waters and the recycled water. Because of the influence of seawater, only could be used to clearly distinguish the recycled water from the source waters and the caprock aquifer water. Estimates of the mixing ratios of source waters in the aquifer were made and a method was developed to determine the fraction of wastewater present in a brackish water sample recovered from a monitoring well during recharge operations without addition of a tracer. This method can be adapted to monitor any other brackish aquifer subjected to wastewater recharge.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The writers wish to acknowledge Darryl Lum, Dean Shirota, Henry Gee, and Ryan Yamauchi for assistance with sample collection and Ronald Pflaum for assistance with boron measurements by ICP-MS.
References
American Public Health Association (APHA). (1995). Standard methods for the examination for water and wastewater, 5th Ed., Washington, D.C.
Barth, S. (1998). “Application of boron isotopes for tracing sources of anthropogenic contamination in groundwater.” Water Res., 32(3), 685–690.
Bassett, R. (1990). “A critical evaluation of the available measurements for the stable isotopes of boron.” Appl. Geochem., 5(5/6), 541–554.
Bassett, R., Buszka, P., Davidson, G., and Chung-Diaz, D. (1995). “Identification of groundwater solute sources using boron isotopic composition.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 29, 2915–2922.
Bauer, G. (1996). Reevaluation of the groundwater resources and sustainable yield of the Ewa caprock aquifer, Department of Land and Natural Resources, State of Hawaii.
Bundschuh, J., Balke, K., Baudina, G., Fuertes, A., and Garcia, R. (1993). “Testing boron as an environmental tracer and indicator in Lerma Valley, Argentina.” IAHS Publication No. 215, 109–116.
Davidson, G., and Bassett, R. (1993). “Application of boron isotope for identifying contaminants such as fly ash leachate in groundwater.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 27, 173–176.
Harding Lawson and Associates. (1995). “Honouliuli Wastewater Treatment Plant 301(h) waiver reapplication.” Aiea, Hawaii.
Hufen, T., Eyre, P., and McConachie, W. (1980). “Underground residence times and chemical quality of basal groundwater in Pearl Harbor and Honolulu aquifers, Oahu, Hawaii.” Water Resources Research Center Technical Rep. No. 129.
Lau, L., Hardy, W., Gee, H., Moravcik, P., and Dugan, G. (1989). “Groundwater recharge with Honouliuli wastewater irrigation: Ewa Plain, Southern Oahu, Hawaii.” Water Resources Research Center Technical Rep. No. 182.
Oki, D., Souza, W., Balke, E., and Bauer, G. (1996). “Numerical analysis of ground-water flow and salinity in the Ewa area, Oahu, Hawaii.” U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Rep. No. 96–442.
Palmer, M., Spivack, A., and Edmond, J. (1987). “Temperature and pH controls over isotopic fractionation during adsorption of boron on marine clay.” Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 51, 2319–2323.
Palmer, M., and Sturchio, N. (1990). “The boron isotope systematics of the Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming) hydrothermal system: A reconnaissance.” Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 54, 2811–2816.
Porteous, N., Walsh, J., and Jarvis, K. (1995). “Measurement of boron isotope ratios in groundwater studies.” Analyst (Cambridge, U.K.), 120, 1397–1400.
Spivack, A., Palmer, M., and Edmond, J. (1987). “The sedimentary cycle of the boron isotopes.” Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 51, 1939–1949.
Swihart, G., Moore, P., and Callis, E. (1986). “Boron isotopic composition of marine and nonmarine evaporite borates.” Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 50, 1297–1301.
Vengosh, A., Chivas, A., McCullough, M., Starinsky, A., and Kolodny, Y. (1991). “Boron isotope geochemistry of Australian salt lakes.” Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 55, 2591–2606.
Vengosh, A., Heumann, K., Juraske, S., and Kasher, R. (1994). “Boron isotope application for tracing sources of contamination in groundwater.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 28, 1968–1974.
Vengosh, A., and Keren, R. (1996). “Chemical modifications of groundwater contaminated by recharge of treated sewage effluent.” J. Contam. Hydrol., 23(4), 347–360.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 132 • Issue 8 • August 2006
Pages: 862 - 871
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: Nov 22, 2004
Accepted: Jun 2, 2005
Published online: Aug 1, 2006
Published in print: Aug 2006
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.