PH05 Fate and Effects of Energetic Compounds
Exhibit Hall
8:00 AM - Thursday
(PH040) Geological formation of perchlorate: Evidence from the presence of other anions.
Coimbatore, Gopal1, Jackson, Andrew2, Cobb, George 1, Rainwater, Ken2, Anderson, Todd1, 1 The Institute of Environmental and Human Health, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TEXAS, USA2 Water Resources Center, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TEXAS, USA
ABSTRACT- A large-scale sampling program was instituted to determine the source and distribution of perchlorate in groundwater of the Southern High Plains. This sampling program included public water system (PWS) wells and private wells in a nine-county area in Texas (Andrews, Borden, Dawson, Ector, Gaines, Glasscock, Howard, Martin, and Midland). Water samples were tested for perchlorate and a suite of common ions. In addition to the sampling effort, a number of other activities were conducted to help determine the source of the perchlorate. A literature review was conducted on possible sources of perchlorate as well as the industrial, military, and agricultural history of the nine-county area. Geologic cross-sections were constructed to examine any relationships to geologic formations and perchlorate presence. The ionic suite data was examined for possible connections to the presence of the perchlorate as well as the mineralogy of the High Plains. We hypothesized that the geological formation of perchlorate would be accompanied by formation of other anionic ates. Here we report our results for the presence of iodate analyzed by ion-pair chromatography. We discovered that a statistically significant correlation exists between perchlorate concentrations in water and iodate concentrations in the same sample. Along with this we will also discuss the occurrence of arsenic as a contaminant in groundwater from this same region.
Key words: Arsenic, Perchlorate, Iodate, Ion-pair chromatography