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Lead in Water: From Arctic ice to the faucet in your kitchen. Dr. William Shotyk, President, Elmvale Foundation. OUTLINE. peat bog archives of atmospheric Pb (15,000 yrs). arctic ice archives (15,000 yrs). leaching of Pb from soils to streams and lakes.
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Lead in Water: From Arctic ice to the faucet in your kitchen Dr. William Shotyk, President, Elmvale Foundation
OUTLINE peat bog archives of atmospheric Pb (15,000 yrs) arctic ice archives (15,000 yrs) leaching of Pb from soils to streams and lakes • pristine groundwaters of Springwater and Tiny bottled water tap water
Peat Bog Archives: Atmospheric Trace Metals, Mineral Dusts, and Climate Change Tollund Man, lived and died in Denmark ca. 1000 B.C.
3,000 yrs 14,500 yrs Shotyk et al, Science281: 1635 (1998)
Ice Cores – Archives of Environmental Change
UNIVERSITÄT HEIDELBERG Prof. Dr. William Shotyk Institute of Environmental Geochemistry University of Heidelberg, Germany Elmvale Water Festival, Saturday August 4th, 2007
Dr. Michael Krachler Element2 Sector-field-ICP-MS
Lab for Trace Inorganic and Isotopic Analyses, University of Heidelberg
DECONTAMINATION stainless steel, cleaning James Zheng
Concentrations of Lead from Devon Ice Cap, Canadian High Arctic, Past 150 Years Natural background: ~ 5 ppt
Winter, Eurasia Lead in snow pit, Devon Island, 1994 to 2004 Summer, Canada
Younger Dryas Pb (pg/g) 4000 to 6000 years ago 5 ng/l Pb ie 5 parts per trillion 8000 4000
natural concentration of Pb in Arctic snow and ice ? FIVE PARTS PER TRILLION in ice between 4,000 and 6,000 years old…..
Natural ratio of Pb to Sc ? STONE ? JOHNSON
☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ Pb/Sc, UCC X X BELLUZ
MEDIAN “background” Pb = 5 parts per trillion (ppt) median concentration Pb = 5 ppt some samples Pb < 1 ppt
Journey to Coldspring Lake, Algonquin Park, September 11-21, 2006 view of Birchcliffe Lake, from the ranger’s cabin
approximate distance: 50 km each way COLDSPRING LAKE
Our Team: Anthony Tolomizenko,Tommy Nørenberg, William Shotyk, Christian Scholz
shallow water, countless logs, 17 beaver dams,,,,,
A rainwater sample was collected at Birchcliffe Lake (rainfall of September 18-19, 2006). Two plastic bottles were used, wedged into the BBQ grill to keep them above the ground.
lake water is dominated by industrial Pb
lakes RAIN snow 3630 parts per trillion oflead (Pb) in rainwater today
Enrichment of Pb but the enrichment of Pb in the lake waters is very low the enrichment of Pb in rain and snow is very high
rainwater (rich in Pb) binding of Pb to particles in soil stream water (rich in Pb) particle settling lake water (poor in Pb)
Forest soil: a perfect Pb filter…. Humus + Iron Oxides
BOTTLED WATER often just tap water “cola without the ingredients” Tony Clarke, Polaris Institute
Brand B Brand A Brand D Brand C 2 ppt Increasing Sb concentrations upon storage in PET containers
LEAD IN BOTTLED WATER Five parts per billion Pb Pip (2000) Summary of Bottled Drinking Water Environmental Health Perspectives, 108:864
Concentrations of lead (Pb) in water bottled in plastic, are similar to Pb concentrations in groundwaters Median of all bottled waters, 8 parts per trillion Measurements to date: 132 brands of bottled water from 28 countries
Our values for Pb in bottled water Nearly 1000 times lower than Pip (2000) Our values for Pb in bottled water Nearly 100 times lower than Dabeka (2003) [Health Canada] Lab for Trace Inorganic and Isotopic Analyses, University of Heidelberg
Bottled water from Fiji, Ottawa, March 15, 2007 In London, Ontario, bottled water is typically 1650 times as expensive as tap water…..