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.
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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.
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© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: Nov 22, 2004
Accepted: Jun 2, 2005
Published online: Aug 1, 2006
Published in print: Aug 2006
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