ML20099G817
| ML20099G817 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Limerick  |
| Issue date: | 06/19/1984 |
| From: | Menzel R AGRICULTURE, DEPT. OF, RESEARCH CENTER |
| To: | |
| References | |
| OL-A-164, NUDOCS 8411270448 | |
| Download: ML20099G817 (7) | |
Text
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' ri.+M. p. 311 3ri2. /> D. A. *.I.nys teil.) Fura.;c fert:lieation. water quality. National Fertilizer Develo pTheit Center. npPT.n ' y i
1 l
Ar... r. Sw. Arron., '.f adimn, Wi 5. neuce Valley Authority. 41 p. 9 a Q p? e i Ibw[g//
J..kuleran.lcr. G. J. 19 72. Ducs 1. a. hing ..f fernlierrs atfeet 22. Stanford, G., C.11. Englant!. and A. W. ilo'r. 19NJcyf, t'.c siu..lity of <ruund .it the watcr w it Lt.' Dutdi Nitrm;cnnus liar use and water quality. USDA. ARs. , R541-lG3. 3 Frrtilierr Resisw, t%<c of Fcrtiliteis anal Water Pollution. 23. T.glor. A. W., and II. St. Knnishi.19 71. Ph pbate eiguild.te.W /
Crutr.il Srikst..f Verloopk.mto.>r,'t he !!.ique,The Netherlands.
li. AIxbrnt5nm. K.St.1963. Nitrogen anal phmphorus in water.
on stream sediment and soil in a watersheit draining an agri.
cultural repon. J. Agr. Fou 1 Chem.19:327-831
' /
8!. y. lk :t.t II. alth. Ihlue.etion, and Welfare, Puletic IIcalth 24. Tennessee Valley Authority and North Car.stina Sta iE.M #,
Servwe. thv. of W. iter Supply and Pollution Contml, Washing
- sity. 1970. Watershed Research in Westcru North Caro in.a.
tun, D. C. Fin.it Report. I I 5 p.
16 .'.tne, P. C., J. V. Atan,ncring, and C. it.jnhnson.1967. Luss 25. Term.in, G. L.. and S. E. Allen. 1970. Lem.hing r,f mluble of fertiliser nitrogen m surfxe runoff water. Soil So.104: and slow rclease N and K fertilizers from Lakelan<t sand umter 3S9-394. grass and fallow. Suit Crup Sci. Soc. of Fla. I' roc. 30:130 140.
- 17. Stoe. P. C., J. V. Stannering, and C. fl. Johnson. 1968. A 26. Thomas, Grant W.1972. The relation between mil character.
coinparison of nitrogen losses from urea and ammonium istics, water movement and nitrate contamination of gruund dirate in surface runoff water. Soil Sci.10h423-433. water. Research Report No. 52. Unisersity of Kentucky
- 14. Sturphy, J., anil J. P. Riley. 1962. A modified methud for Water Resuurres Institute, Lcxington, the detennination ofphosphate in natural waters. Anal. Chim. 27. Timmons, D. R., R. E. Iturwell, and R. F. Italt. Summer, Acts 27:31-36. 1968. Loss of crop nutrients through runoff. Slinnesota
- 19. Prince, A. l 1985. Dctermination of total nitrogen, am- Science 24(4):16-18.
monia. nitrates and nitrites irt soils. Soil Sci. 59:47-52. 28. Truog. E., and R. J. Jones. 1938. Fate of solut,le potash
- 20. Soileau. J.11. 1969. Effects of fertilizers on water quality. applied to soils. Ind. Eng. Chem. 30:882-885.
National Fertiliar Development Center Tennessee Valley 29. Victs, Frank G.,jr., and Richarrlit. Itageman.1971. Factors A7 thority.107 p. affecting the accumulation of nitrate in soil, water, and plants.
- 21. Soileau J. Al.1971. Supplement to effcets of fertilizers on , Agr.lfandbook No.413. USDA, ARS,63 p.
e gq h t l, NM 8 v4 '
)
)
(l l % ' ] u -Se)N3 IW )
Land Surface Erosion and Rainfall as Sources of Strontium.90 in Streams' Ronald G. .\lenzel 8 AGSTRACT United States in radioactive fallout since 1954. Depo <i.
tion occurs predominantly in tainfall(2). Upon scaching Strontium.00 concentrations 11 streams from 1958 to 19G7 re- the soil surface, the strontimn ion is only slightly leached fl4cted the changing cancentrations in rainfall and accumulation
{g .and mmes principally with croded surf.:ce mil (9).
in the land surface. Correlation angysis of data from nationwide gg g gS;g dm%$ 4 &
sangGng netwmks shows that the Sr concentration m streams 3 4 g; w.s accounted for, on the average, by 1.7% of the rainout 2 rate of only 2.5% annually. Its mmcment from the so.!.
months earlier, and annual erosion of 0.53% of the accumulated surface to streams should, therefore,he similar to that of
Sr on the fand surface. Direct runoff of "Sr in precediev; rainfall persistent, strongly adsorbed chemicals applied to agri.
w:s hn; hest. 2.0 to 2.2%,in the north central and eastern United States. ranging dovvn to no measurable direct runoff in the south. cultural lands.
western United States. Annual erosion of St from the land sur. Strontium-90 in streams essential!Y is derised either fact ranged from 0.75% in the Ohio River Basin to 0.17% in the directly from rainfall or by crosion of the accumulated Missouri River Basin, if one allows for differences in time and soil deposit. If tha fractions of tne "Sr entering streams arm of application, these results for land surface erosion indicate f om both sources are.rrlatively constant and inilependent the potential movement of persistent, strongfy adsorbed pesticides from farge land areas. of each other, a multiple linear regression equation should g g g; gggggg ;g Adstional index Words: radioactive fallout, regression analysis, entering directly into streams would be determined by runoff. one regression coefficient. The fraction of accumulated "Srin the surface soil that is eroded would be determined
. by the other regression coefficient.
Contributions of dispersed sources to water quality are These relationships were studied for the conterminous largely unesalnated. The debates as to whether or not United States Sr/ the use of data co!!ected in national agricultural chemicals significantly affect water quality, sampling programs from 1953 to 1967. Climatic and geo.
and in what situations their use should be limited, cannot graphic effects were studied by examining separately the be settled until data involving many chemicals and many data for eight major drainage regions (Fig.1). Regional soil and climatic areas have been studied. divisions were as follows: (i) North Atlantic,(ii) South The radionuclide. "Sr. behaves similarly to many agri. Atlantic and Eastern Gulf of Slexico,(iii) Ohio and Ten-cultural chemicals in the soil and water cuvironments. It nessee risers, (iv) Great Lakes, !!udson !!ay, and Upper has been r.ither uniformly distributed oser the entiie Alississippi River,(v) 31issouri Ris er, (vi) Lower 3finissippi and Western Gulf of Alexico, (vii) Colorado River, Great ecultural Research Sersire, U. S. Department ontreuilan trom ihe mter qualiev slanagemene Laborat"'b Basin, and California, of Agneulture, and (ciii) Snake and Columbia Durint,Qua. 74701. Receised 27 August 1973. rivers. Reg.ional boundaries were those used m. the U. S.
2 Laboratory Directue. Geological Survey Water Supply papers (20,21,22).
8411270448 840619 Mnviron. Quality, Vol. 3, no. 3,1974 219 PDR ADOCK 05000352 O PDR
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- . . . . . I g .io -
T. ~:cf. h$ .[ f .~.
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Fig.1-Drainage regions of the United States showing stream sam.
pling locations where "Sr concentrations were determincd by
- g. the U. S. Public Health Service.
o , , , _
~I Fig. 3-Average accumulation of "Sr in United States soils.
SOURCES AND TREATMENT OF DATA
- -l- ly flows were calculated from data published by the U. S.Geolog..
l] ;! The relationship Y = ex A x6 + e was fitted by least squarcs analysis where Y is flow weighted average "Sr concentration in ical Survey (20, 21, 22) and the International lloundary and Water
- - streams for a particular region and calendar quarter,x is the aver- Commission (7). In most cases, the stream gaging and "Sr sam.
if r age deposit of '"Sr per unit area on soils in the region at the be- pling it.ations coincided. Where they did unt, Ibw from the un. '
i-
- ginning of the same quarter, and x2 si the precipitation. weighted gaged area between the two stations was estimated, lhe ungaged '
ascrage concentration in rainfall in the same region and quarter.nr area was usually a small part of the total watershed, escreding 10'1 in the quarter preceding by 1,2, or 3 months. of the gaged area at only 12 stations and never esteeding half of the gaged area.
Stream Data Rainfall Data
!,} ' Strontium.00 toncentrations in streams were ,letermined by the Strontium.90 concentrations in rainfall h.we becn .!cter nia J
~ [; ] U. 5. Pul,lic I! alth Servise from Oct.19M. through Sept.1967, (1,12,11, !$,19). De sampling network expar.dcel fre,m about hv the U. 5. Atomic Encigy Commi sinn from 194 to the presear h
Od
/ ~0 2 stations in 1939, mainly on major streams,in about 130 stations (g'5). From 1959 to 19G7, the sampling network con isted of ab..us in 1963.m.my of them on smaller streams. The expanded network 25 wi.lely J stributed stations in the ca.nterminous UnNJ *4aecs.
eperated t.ntil Sept.1967,1,ut only half the stations co!!c, ted sam * %c s.,mple collectors were open topped pots, or funnels Jraining pies during a given quarter. Weekly samples of river water were into columns of ion exchange resins. lhe .ampics were rollected co!! cried manually and cuenposited by rptxters before analysis for and analvacd monthly except during 1960 anel 5%I when numer.
tur.J "St. aus samples were analyacd by 2-month per6ta. Scause the o nn.
l~, centrations of "Sr were low during this period, it was possdJe to All stagions affected lay major dis (harges from maclear reactors j were cxclu,le.1 from the regression analysis. The stationt exclu ted estimate the monthly concentrations with little error.
were the lludson River at roughkeepsie,N.Y. the Savannah River Average concentrations of "Sr in rainfall we<c computed for
! at Port Wenisworth, Ca.t all stations below Oak Ridge. Tenn.. ort each of the eight regions separately as wel: as for aTI .tations enm.
I bined. To be consistent with the averaging method for stream the Clindt, Tennessee, Ohio, and afississippi riterst and att stations I
below flanford Wash..on the Columbia River. In addition, stations water, the averages were weighted by amount of rainfall. A! n to on the Creat Lakes or on rivers draining from them were excluded be consistent with the quarterly anafysis of stream water, the because of the large dilution and long residence time of water in the monthly rainfall averages were cornbined to give running 3. month
. Iakes. aserages (Fli. 2). The use of 3-month ascrages helped to eve t out
, Average "Sr tuncentrations for each region, and for the con- sample variations for those times (177. of the total number of cases) e terminous United States, were weighted by flow, Average quarter- when a region had fewer than three sampling stations daring a
. month.
Soil Data
, w *
. Strontium.90 concentrations in soils were determined by the
.. U. S. Atomic Energy Commission on samples collected by the U. 5.
t'
) Sod Conservation Service (2,5,10). Estensise sample collections p %
E were made annually from 1958 to 1963, encept in 1961. The sampling sites were carefully selected on grass-cosered areas that
- , . .,, were not subject to erosion or flooding. Surface vegetation and w
- soils were included in the sampfe, with repeated cheeks to be cer.
- tain that samples were taken deep enough to include at least 95*.
of the "5r in the soil profile.
=* **
The "St concentrations in the soils within each of the eight
.f.,j,,j
'v/*. , drainage regions were plotted against time of umpling. Cumulative
"* s me es a . , deposition curves were fitted by eye for each region. Interpolation e
between umpling dates was based on data from tainfall sampling
'O Fig. 2-Average "Sr concentrations in United States rainfall (run.
i j ning 3-month averages).
network. Regional averages were weighted by area to compute the national average (Fig. 3). The regional and national averages for t b
! 220
, J. Environ. Ovality, Vol. 3, no. 3,1974 p
l t______--- .__ - _
na*-
i Gstreams (Y) with soil deposition (X ) and e I-Multiple regression correlations of "Sr concentrations in g 3' concentration in rainfall (Xs) 2 months preWously: Y = ax: + bx: + c e .
(1) s.d., R = multiple correlation coefficient li' 3 a.gr e cicieu. U .
a.es e b e so* a $.2
- I i..an sm a o272 a os27 .a uos e sai s. sw! 8 .* .
.is.na.am a oios a osse et auro a 294 a sosi E * * .
m--- s ono o. oi,so aosco a sts t esta e chie van.y & alof & osse 8.o30s & Joe & sG33
- t o3ss & O47o 4 237o 8.ess 0. 92s2
.. )
see.rsh an . revan.C.atraa , a ceos eL o72s -o. 7ese m eer o. sue
- q 3.
3.usere G. os47 8. iets -4. e727 & s22 4. so74 ,93g -
shwe.spistas t o327 4.0048 9. s2t t 0.738 A sato - r96o' #96a' ' 1964 ~ #966 u.nn t o:Je t etro e.o7so a 4 t7 t ono Fig. 4-Computed (line) ano measured (points) average concentra-q si reenuu.s trations of "Sr in United States streams. !
l a
1966 were within ( ) 7% of values obtained by planimetry of the gions, and ' complicated interpretation of the data, it is -
cumulative deposition maps of ILleyer et al. (10), with one excep- not reported here. l tion. De soil sample average for the Snake and Columbia river basins was 167. less than that obtained from the deposition map, The coeff. .icients .in the regression equation give meas.
indicating nossible bias in location of the sampling sites in this re, urcs of the average contributions of soil crosion and direct i gion. The cumulative deposition curves were adjusted to agree with runoff of rainfall to the "Sr concentrations in streanis, l the deposition map before they were used in the regression analg' sis. De first coefficient, "a", indicates the pCi of "Sr/ liter i The soil and rainfall analyses give independent meisGres of S' 1 deposition. The two measures agreed perfectly for the North of stream water that are derised from I mci of"Sr/km2 Atlantic region. In the other regions, the rasnfall analyses showed of land surface. Since I cm,of runoff.Eroduces 10' liters / ;
consitently less deposition, ranging from 63 tc 92% of that krna , and I mCs. equals 10 pCi, it is ont> necessary to measured by soil analysis. The poor efficiency of the resin col. multiply coefficient "a" times the average annual runoff ,
in centimeters to obtain the annual percentage of accumn. '
tmns may account for much of the discregancy. On the average, these resin columns caught SS?. as much Sr as the pot collectors lated "Sr being croded into stteams. The second cocf- .,
at serra locations, where both types of collectors were used (23). ficient, "h" indicates the ratio of "Sr concentrations in I Colum2 collectors were used at more than half of the rasnfall sam. .
pling stations. Those regions with the greatest discrepancy between streann and associated ram. fall. 'I.hns, multiplying corI.
soil and rainfa!! analyses had the greatest number of column collec. ficient "b" times the percentage of ram, fall that runs off Unfortunately, there is no way of correcting the discrepancy, gives the percentage of '"Sr in the rainfall that ran off, 9nd would vary accordingly.
e is thought to be due to improper maintenance of the collec. Regional values for annual average "Sr runoff"arul
- crosion are listed in Table 2. These values were c.d. ut.tted after adjusting the multiple reyenion planes to interupt RhSULTS the origin without changing the ratios of coefficients "a"
. . . and "b." Obviously, if there were no "Si in rainfall and
. Iultiple regression coefficients and correlation coef. none on the land surface, three should be none in the f,c)ents are listed in Table 1 for each of the eight ii regions stream water, since stream locations that were affectetl by .
, and for the combmed regions. The coefficients hsted nuclear reactors were excluded from this analysis. %c w;te obtamed for ra, fall m concentratioyi s observed 2
- "c" coefficients in Table i seem to vary randomly at .'
months carher than the stream concentrations. Different about zero, and are usually smaller than the residual i lead times for the rainfall concentrations made little dif. standard deviations. .
f rene2 in the correlation coefficients, but 2.or 3. month I The direct runoff of "St ranged from slightly abuse 2'l',
j lead times usually gave the highest correlation. In the north central and castern United States, to no I
- I In all cases except one, both X variables were highly measurable direct runoff in the southwestern United i correlated (P > 0.99) with Y. The exception occurred in States. If the true concentrations of"Sr in rainfall were
- the southwest region, where there was no significant ef. higher than the measured concentrations, because of poor Icct cf rainfall concentration. The X variables showed
! little c:rrelation with each other (P < 0.48), as may be 6
} apprecisted by coinparing Fig. 2 and 3. '
Table 2-Ficgional values for rainfatt. runoff, sediment geld, and
- Figure 4 shows the concentrations of "Sr in United percentages of "sr runotf and annual erosion of Sr d i
States streams as computed from the regression equation from the land surface >
- in comparison with observed concentrations. The varia. m tions in observed concentrations are well predicted until n.a '
f> the 1.ast 2 years of observation. Then observed concentra. i'C sm a. '
lions varied more than computed concentrations, with ,,,, ^; "', O l 8",' Y ", N
, **3 ,
l olnerved concentrations being high in the summer and .. ., .w r.
- fall qu rters and low in the winter and spring quarters. n n sa e
- e. .n, tn j,4 i Re
, .. sons. . .
t.a.a .sm. in. u o tn :
- w. . ps n o is o ao f gression :h quarter coefficients of the year. Inwere some alsocases,computed this gave sig-separately 7,7,,';";,o '" " "
'N l0 i
- tly better agreement between compnted and ob. gg,,r y ,; 8" g 4a !;; ,;
i tw concentrations than did the use of smgle coef. n..ni . n e an ea e fitients, "a" and "h", for all quarters. Since the improve. , ,j,'[*,*" ,
,',', ,,,,,,,,,,'.l,,,a,,'",,.,
,e ment was slight, occurred in only half the dramage re. cm,.omi s.a.c=<=av .mrm. tr-r me uw e
'l l
J. Environ. Quality, Vol. 3, no. 3,1974 221 }
d
i I;
collection efficiency, the percentage of diiect runoff the important factors contributing variability include sier would be lower. Annual crosion of "Sr from the land of plot, amorint of runoff, type and amount ot' soil coser.
j' surface sanged from 0.75% in the Ohio Rher 13asin to distribution of applied chemical with depth in the snil, f~s) 0.17"'. in the .\lissouri River Basin. and adsorption characteristics of the chemical. Simulated l- rainfall, apptied soon after the chemical, washut up in DISCUSSION
- 4tWe of applied 2.4.D esters from cultivated plots (31
l Alore commonly, about 1% of the chemicals was washed i The poor agreement between observed and computed off over study periods lasting I or 2 years (I I).
concemrations in 1966 and 1967 is not readily esplained. Pesticides are applied mainly on croplaml. whereas fall.
i Apparently, some factor affecting "Sr concenuations in out of "Sr occurs equally on cropland, grawland, fe,rco, i
streams has not been recognized. Two possibilitics are and other areas. Since runoff and crosion are usu !!y that "Sr accumulates in streamhed deposits,and thas the greater from cropland than from grassland or forest, mme regression coefficients change with time.
ment of pesticides to streams is probably greater than in.
Sticambed deposits of"Sr would become resuspended dicated for "Sr. The difference is apparently not ex.
during high flows, thus increasing the measured concentra.
treme, for the percentage of cropland in the humid regions tions. Ilowever, the deviations from computed values ranges from i1% in the Northeast and Southeast to 3N*.
were not correlated with stream flow. Likewise, stream. in the North Central, yet the annual average rtmoff an:1 1 flow data did not improve the multiple correlation when crosion of "Sr is about the same in these regions. Of 0
added as a third independent variable to those shown in course, tillage of cropland reduces the amount of "Sr un f! Table 1.
' the soil surface where it is most subject to crosion. Tilla;;c When the regression coefficients were analyzed by sea. would also reduce the susceptibility of some pesticide ap.
son, some possihty significant differences were found. Plications to erosion.
- For the corribined regions, the soil crosion coefficient was The 2% of "Sr that runs off directly to' streams simu.
1.3 times as high in the summer and fall quarters as it was I2tes movement of perticides that might occur if they in the spring ^ quarter. The runoff coefficient was 2.5 times were applied during or immediately befmc rainstorms, as high in the winter as in the other quarters, but this was uns, 2% is probably the maximum move nent into
' :ounterbalanced by a lower erosion coefficient. Statisti. streams, averaged over large areas and all types of land
' cally significantimprovementsin data fit were found using use. Thisdegree of movement could occur with pcsticides seasonal coefficients in the Northeast, North Central, and that are strongly adsorbed on soils and not mixed into the
! Ohio Valley regions. In each of these regions, the runoff soil soon after application.
8 coefficient was higher in the winter than in other quarters.
This effect may be related to the occurrence of rainfall CONCLUSIONS predominantly on saturated or froecn soils. The erosion
$p ) coefficient in the Northeast and Ohio Valley regions wa, Strontium 90 concentrations in United States streams e d kJ higher in the fall than in other quarters. In the North are strongly related to those in rainfall and on the !.md Central re;; ion it was lower in the winter than in other surface. %e best correlation is obtained when streim L
quarters. Interpretation of these changes is speculative, concentrations are measured 2 months after rainf dl wn.
Erosion of the sod deposit might decrease with time centrations. Erosion of "Sr from she land smface is re.
becau>e of the slow movement of "Sr from the surface to lated to sediment yield in regions where sheet crosion prc.
deeper soit layers. This b othesis was tested with recent, dominates but not in regions where gully or rill crodon
- ly pnblished data for 'r concentrations in 1971 in Predominates.
Gl streams cast of the Continental Divide (16,17). Stronti.
' Direct runoff of "Sr amonnecd to 2% of that in the um.90 concentrr.tions computed from regression equa. rainfall o.cr wide areas of the United States. Average an.
il tions for the appropriate regions averaged 42% higher nual crosion of "Sr from the land surface was less than
j than measured concentrations. Erosion of the soil deposit 0.75% and appears to decrease with time.
decreased by about this percentage since rainfall con. Persistent pesticides with adsorption characteristics i tributed a minor portion of the "Sr in streams in 1971. similar to "Sr would enter streams in similar proportion.
} ,
Ilowever, variations in stream concentration were similar in magnitude to those observed in 1966 and 1967.
LITERATURE CITED Sediment yields from the major ther basins (Table 2) in the humid region rank, in order, similar to'the annual I crosion of "Sr. Agreement would be better if more of 1. Atenander isotopes NrL. T. l3'Cs.967.
and U. f.Depth Atomicof penetration Energy of the radio.
Commioion, i the drainage areas in the Ohio Valley and North Central '
Nh6.b.a d Safety Laboratory, Report No. IIASL.183, p.
I regions were included in the sediment yield data. flow
- ever, in those te ions with less than 20 cm of annual run. 2. Alexander. L. T., R. II. Jordan R. F. Dever, E. P. liardy. C.
llamada. L. Af achta, and R.J. List. 1961. Strontium 90 on off, erosion of r is much less than might be expected the earth's surface. Summary and interpretation of a world.
! on the basis of sediment yicids. This is explained by the P' Ud*/',"[,"g"'o65gm. U. 5. Atomic Energy Comminion p,
tendency toward gully and channel erosion in semi arid
- 3. Barnett, A. P., E. W. lfsuier. A. W. whhe. and J. II. Ilollahy.
or arid climates (14). Gully and channel erosion would 1967. Losses of 2.4 D in washoff from cultivated f.!!ow land.
l=
provide sediment mostly uncontaminated bv "Sr.
- wnds 15:133 137.
- Studies on small plots show great variability in move. 4. F1
,,,7d.ceE.waters P., andofLeo theWeaver.1964.
United staies,Trcnds of ,$r levels 1959 1963. in R4diol.
ment of applied chemicals during runoff events. Some of IIcalth Data 5:390 394,
' \ l 222 J. Enwiron. Quallty, Vol. 3, no. 3,1974 i . .
(
- 5. Ilardy, E. P.,Jr., R.J. List. L Stachta, L. T. Alexander,J. S. tion No. 60. Nebraska Agricultural Eaperiment Station.
Allen, and al. W. Steyer. 1962. Strontium 90 on the earth's 15. U. S. Atomic Energy Comrnission. 1973. Ilealth and Safety '
surface.11. Summary and interpretation of a world-wide soit Laboratory, Report No. IIASL-273, Appendix,p. A.1-97.
G samplin(program: 1960-1961 results. U.S. Atomic Energy 16. U. S. Environmental Protection Agency,0ffice of Water Plan.
Commission Report No. TID-17090. ning and Standards. 1973. Cross radioactivity in surface
- 6. Iluleman,J. N.1968. The sediment yictd of major rivers of waters of the United States, itay 1972. Radiat. Data Rep.
the world. Water Resour. Res. 4:737-747. g4:23 30,
- 7. International Boundary and Water Commission. 1962-1967, 17. U. S. Emironmental Protection Agency Office of Water Pro.
Ei Paso, Texas. Water Bull. Nos. 31-36. gram s. 1972. Cross radioactivity in surface waters of the .
- 8. Judson, Sheldon, and D. F. Ritter. 1964. Rates of te ional United States. Oct.1971. Radiat. Data Rep. 13:361-362.
denudation in the United States. J. Geophys. Res. 69: 395- !$. U. S. Department of Ilealth, Education, and Welfare, Public I 3408- llcalth Service. 1965. Cross radioactivity and %r in surface '
waters of the United States. Radiol. Health Data 6:155-159,
- 9. Stensel. R. G. 1960. Transport of "Sr in runoff. Science
- 131:499-450. 555-559.
( 19. U. 5. Department of Inter %r, Federal Water Pollution Control
- 10. Meyer, al. W., J. S. Allen L. T. Alexander, and E. liardy.
1968. Strontium 90 on the earth's surface. IV. Summary Administration. 1966-1968. Cross radioactivity and 'OSr. in j and interpretation of a world-wide soil sampling program: surface waters of the United States. Radiol. llealth Data Rep.
1961-1967 results. U. S. Atomic Energy Commission Report 7:354-358; 8:44 7-451: 9:660-C64. k No. TID-24341. 20. U. S. Department of Interior, Geological Survey. 1963-1964. U
- 11. Pionke,11. B., and C. Chesters. 1973. Pesticide. sediment. Compifation of records of surface waters of the United States.
Oct.1950 to Sept.1960. Water Supply Paper, Nos.1721- l water interactions. J. Ensiron. Qual. 2:29-45.
1738.
- 12. Public Ilealth Service. 1960-1963. Public Ilealth Service 21. U. S. Department of Interior, Geological Survey. 1969-1971. (
Nationd water quatity network. Radiol.IIcalth Data.Vol. I,
- No. le3 5-39; No. 3:17-20; No. 6:27-30; Vol. 2:34-38,129- Surface water supply of the United States. 1961-65. Water 133, 397-399, 449-451 : Vol. 4 : 150-15 4, 461-4 71. Supply Paper,Nos. 1901-1935.
- 13. Setter, L R., and S. L Baker.1960. Radioactivity of surface 22. U. S. Department of Interior, Geof ical Survey. 1972-1973.
4 Surface water supply of the Unite States, 1966-70. Watcr 4 waters and the United States (Oct. I,19584farbh 31,1960). h Radial. Ilealth Data l(7):20-31. Supply Paper,Nos. 2I01-2135.
- 23. Volthok,11. L 1968. Has the IIASL lon exchange colu nn I
- 14. Thorp E. hl. 1972. Sediment yield and sources of the Crest '
Plains. p.15-23. Im Control of agriculture-related pollution been seriously in error? U. S. Atomic Energy Comini,sion, in the Great Plains. Great Plains Agricultural Council Publica- flealth and Safety 1.aboratory Report No. IIASI.-193,I 2-16. I I
5 I
t i
i Columns Representing Mound Type Disposal Systems for Septic Tank Effluent:
1 I l. Soil water and Gas Relations l i
?
- } ! ~
~
F R. Afagdoff,J. Itouma, and D. R. Kecncy 8 ABSTRACT .the current !!calth Code in Wisconsin (Wivonsin State
!!oard of !!ealth,1969) does not allow the construction i Columns were designed to represent the vertical dimensions of a mound type doposal system for receiving septic tank effluent on of a septic tank and subsurface secpay bed when certain ,
problem soils. The columns were filled with gravel (representing soil conditions prevail. An expensive holding tank opera.
creviced bedrock), salt loam (representing the original topsoil), a tion is, at present, the only legal alternative to the septic '
sand or sandy loam till (fill materiel), gravel (the seepage bed), and tank at individu.d homes on such soils. The magnitude of another layer of sitt loam (the mound cover). The columns were g, Pg g ,i,!y ggg g gg dosed with septic tanit effluent at the rate of 2 cm every 6 hours6.944444e-5 days <br />0.00167 hours <br />9.920635e-6 weeks <br />2.283e-6 months <br />. '
Until cruiting caused permanent ponding at the fill-gravel interface, 50's of Wisconsin soils are considered by t!)e !!calth Code the fill was aerobic and the sitt loam at the bottom of the column to be unsuited to the traditional septic tank. subsurface was anaerobic. Redos potentials were higher in the fill (350 to 600 seepage bed system (Bouma et al.,1972). Similarlimita. }
mV) than in the silt loam (200 to 410 mV). Moisture tension tions are being experienced in other parts of the country ,
fluctuations af ter a 2 cm addition were greatest near the fillgravel gg pg gg g y, I interface and decreased with depth in the column. Aftee continu. .
i ous ponding, tension fluctuations almost ceased, the subcrustal soil One possible alternatwe is to construct a d.isposal field became anaerobie, and the redos potentials decreased to around in fill on top of the unsuitable soil (the mound system). *
-250 mV. In a separate experiment, simulating field conditions, The mound system has hcen proposed mainly for probicm '
serohis conditions were maintamed in 'ho suberustal fill, by per. situations invohing sites withs (i) a high water tahic, I forating column walls. The moisture tension re9 irne and the rate t Oi) a stMI Eenneable subsoil, and (iii) a shallow Pcrmea.
j of crust formation were similar to nonperfo,ated columns ble so,d above highly crev,ced i bedrock (!1ouma et al.,
- Additional Indet Words: soil crusting, unsaturated water flow, 1972). With the tradition.d system, nutrient and patho;',-n '
redag potentials. crusting, methane, contamination of ground water would omer in cases (i) and (iii) and scepage of unpurified effluent in the surface Contribution from the Soil Sciente Dep., Univ. of Wis., and the In case (ii).
Geological and Naturallintory Survey, Universit .Estension Stali- When huihling a mound,60 cm (2 ft) of sand it placed r in, Wie. $1706.1his research was part of the mall Scale Waste ahose the oil3 inal toIisoil, followed by 30 cm (I ft) of it.m atrment Pro cet, funded by the State of Wisconsin and the pr Creat t.ak s Reg.Comm. Reuised 22 June 1973. gr.ncl on which polyvinyl chlon.de (PVC) distribut.mn
- Postdoctoral Fellow, and Associate Professors of Soil 5ciente, ipes are laid. 'lhe pipes are covered first with a shallow pertisely, Univ. of Wis. Senior author is resently As,istant . )cr of straw,and then hith 15 to 30 cm of topioil. The ofeuve of Ptant and 5 oil Science, University o Vermune,!!urting-ton,0no i, top and sides of the mound should be seeded and a vegeta.
J. Environ ouchty, Vol. 3, no. 3,1974 223
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