CHLORIDE BROMIDE AND CHLORIDE/FLUORIDE RATIOS OF DOMESTIC SEWAGE EFFLUENTS AND ASSOCIATED CONTAMINATED GROUND-WATER/

Citation
A. Vengosh et I. Pankratov, CHLORIDE BROMIDE AND CHLORIDE/FLUORIDE RATIOS OF DOMESTIC SEWAGE EFFLUENTS AND ASSOCIATED CONTAMINATED GROUND-WATER/, Ground water, 36(5), 1998, pp. 815-824
Citations number
43
Categorie Soggetti
Water Resources","Geosciences, Interdisciplinary
Journal title
ISSN journal
0017467X
Volume
36
Issue
5
Year of publication
1998
Pages
815 - 824
Database
ISI
SICI code
0017-467X(1998)36:5<815:CBACRO>2.0.ZU;2-H
Abstract
To establish geochemical tools for tracing the origin of ground water contamination, we examined the variations of Cl/Br and Cl/F (weight) r atios in (1) domestic waste water from the Dan Region Sewage Reclamati on Project and from reservoirs in the central coast of Israel; (2) ass ociated contaminated ground water; and (3) pristine ground water from the Mediterranean coastal aquifer of Israel. Our data show that supply water, anthropogenic NaCl and fluoridation control the Cl/Br (410 to 873) and Cl/F (468 to 1070) ratios of domestic waste water, and conven tional sewage treatment does not affect the anthropogenic inorganic si gnals, The Cl/Br ratios of ground water contaminated with sewage efflu ent reflect conservative mixing proportions of sewage and regional gro und water components. Sensitivity tests demonstrate that it is possibl e to detect and distinguish sewage contamination from marine ratios af ter a sewage contribution of 5 to 15% is mixed with regional ground wa ter. Mixing,vith Br-enriched fresh water (e.g., Sea of Galilee; Cl/Br= 145), however, would reduce this sensitivity, Since the high Cl/Br sig nal of sewage effluents is distinguishable from other anthropogenic so urces with low Cl/Br ratios (e.g., street runoff, agriculture return f lows) and from natural contamination sources (e.g., salt water intrusi on; Cl/Br=293), Cl/Br ratios can therefore be a useful inorganic trace r for identification of the origin of contaminated ground water. The C l/F ratios of sewage-contaminated ground water (284 to 5186) were high er than those in the original sewage effluent, which suggests retentio n of fluoride into the aquifer solid phase.