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Screening-Level Assessments of Public Water Supply Well Vulnerability to Natural Contaminants

Explore screening-level assessments of public water supply well vulnerability to natural contaminants, focusing on spatial scales and using geochemical data. This study analyzes principal components, Spearman correlation, and classification tree analyses. Findings highlight the influence of groundwater age on uranium and arsenic vulnerability and the value of particle-tracking variables in assessing vulnerability. Contact Stephen Hinkle for more information.

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Screening-Level Assessments of Public Water Supply Well Vulnerability to Natural Contaminants

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  1. Screening-Level Assessments of Public Water Supply Well Vulnerability to Natural Contaminants Stephen Hinkle, Mary Ann Thomas, Craig Brown, Kathy McCarthy, Sandra Eberts, Leon Kauffman, Michael Rosen, and Brian Katz

  2. Screening-Level Assessments of Public Water Supply Well Vulnerability to Natural Contaminants Part of the NAWQA Transport of Anthropogenic and Natural Contaminants Topical Study

  3. Well vulnerability then . . .

  4. . . . and well vulnerability now

  5. Vulnerability to Natural Contaminants • Typically not assessed in the U.S. • Inorganic chemicals had the highest percent of MCL violations (public supply wells during 1993 - 1998; USEPA, 1999)

  6. Goals • Generate an understanding of public supply well vulnerability to natural contaminants • Focus on large spatial scales • Existing ground-water flow models and geochemical data • Demonstrate a simple screening-level model with As and U

  7. Study Areas • 8 Study Areas • 7 NAWQA Study Units • 5 Principal Aquifers

  8. Occurrence USEPA MCL Exceedances (Public Supply Wells with Particle Tracking): As: 12% of wells U: 8% of wells

  9. Time of Travel • Flow Modeling • Particle Tracking

  10. Redox zonation Particle tracking to simulate • Time-of-travel • Flux Through different redox zones

  11. Variables • Time-of-travel and flux variables • Including geochemical-zonation-based variables • Aqueous geochemical variables • A set of general solid-phase trace-element variables

  12. Principal Components Analysis • Objectively reduce a large number of variables to a few principal components that capture much of the total dataset variability • Identify associations among variables

  13. Principal Components Analysis Uranium is associated with oxidizing variables

  14. Uranium mine Bradford Canyon, San Juan County, Utah Redox controls uranium attenuation

  15. Principal Components Analysis In the combined dataset, arsenic is not associated with a dominant redox group

  16. Spearman Correlation Analysis A nonparametric correlation analysis to evaluate monotonic correlations that are nonlinear

  17. Spearman Correlation Analysis • Uranium and arsenic concentrations significantly correlated with many particle-tracking variables • For example, particle-tracking variables for arsenic (positive correlations; p < 0.05): • Mean and median time of travel • Minimum and maximum time of travel • Percent of simulated well inflow with time of travel > 200 years • Time-of-travel variables important because many geochemical reactions are kinetically limited

  18. Spearman Correlation Analysis • Uranium concentrations also were significantly correlated with time-of-travel variables computed for different redox zones • Correlations between arsenic and redox-zonation-based time-of-travel variables were clearer at the study-area scale.

  19. Classification Tree Analysis • Nonparametric method • Dataset is partitioned recursively into increasingly homogeneous subsets • Schematically resemble trees, similar to dichotomous classification keys • Uncover relations that are logical, but difficult to identify with linear statistical models • Demonstrate a potential application of the use of particle-tracking variables and other predictor variables in vulnerability analysis.

  20. Arsenic Tree Accuracy 70% (building) 79% (verification) (“TT” = simulated time of travel)

  21. Conclusions • In these study areas, older ground water generally is more vulnerable to uranium and arsenic than is younger ground water

  22. Conclusions • Particle-tracking variables can be used in simple statistical models for screening-level analysis

  23. Conclusions • Such simple models can serve as a basis for prioritizing the locations and guiding the types of more refined, site-specific vulnerability assessments that may be needed at smaller spatial scales High-resolution particle tracking to a public supply well, Modesto, CA Stephen Hinkle srhinkle@usgs.gov 1-503-251-3470

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