Triennial changes in groundwater quality in aquifers used for public supply in California: utility as indicators of temporal trends

TitleTriennial changes in groundwater quality in aquifers used for public supply in California: utility as indicators of temporal trends
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2016
AuthorsKent, R, Landon, MK
JournalEnvironmental Monitoring and Assessment
Volume188
Issue11
Pagination1 - 17
Date Published11/2016
ISBN Number0167-6369
KeywordsCalifornia groundwater, Public supply wells, Trend analysis, Water-quality monitoring
Abstract

From 2004 to 2011, the U.S. Geological Survey collected samples from 1686 wells across the State of California as part of the California State Water Resources Control Board's Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Priority Basin Project (PBP). From 2007 to 2013, 224 of these wells were resampled to assess temporal trends in water quality. The samples were analyzed for 216 water-quality constituents, including inorganic and organic compounds as well as isotopic tracers. The resampled wells were grouped into five hydrogeologic zones. A nonparametric hypothesis test was used to test the differences between initial sampling and resampling results to evaluate possible step trends in water-quality, statewide, and within each hydrogeologic zone. The hypothesis tests were performed on the 79 constituents that were detected in more than 5 % of the samples collected during either sampling period in at least one hydrogeologic zone. Step trends were detected for 17 constituents. Increasing trends were detected for alkalinity, aluminum, beryllium, boron, lithium, orthophosphate, perchlorate, sodium, and specific conductance. Decreasing trends were detected for atrazine, cobalt, dissolved oxygen, lead, nickel, pH, simazine, and tritium. Tritium was expected to decrease due to decreasing values in precipitation, and the detection of decreases indicates that the method is capable of resolving temporal trends.

URLhttps://www.proquest.com/docview/1827073834/abstract/EBEC8C6301DE4049PQ/1
DOI10.1007/s10661-016-5618-3