No description available.

Baseflow water chemistry between different septic system density groups was analyzed to understand how septic system usage impacts the water quality of the Yellow River Watershed located in Gwinnett County, Georgia. Seventy water samples were collected at baseflow conditions in the summer of 2006. The samples were analyzed for the abundance and distribution of chlorides, sulfates, nitrates, and specific conductance. Geographic Information Systems were used to determine sample collection sites, assign samples into density groups, and spatially analyze and display the results. Statistical methods were used to compare the results of each density group with all others,and to find any correlation of the anions with respect to specific conductance. Regression coefficient values between nitrate and specific conductance in all groups average 0.77 and the elevated nitrate concentrations in group four suggest a limited relationship between septic system density and baseflow water quality.

No description available.

This experiment manipulated water levels in boreal marshes within the Saskatchewan River Delta, a 9500 km2 region in northern Canada. Water levels in three wetland cells were lowered in a partial drawdown by a mean of 0.32 m. Water clarity, nutrient concentrations, and periphyton nutrient limitation were measured over the summer preceding and the summer following manipulation. The water levels of three adjacent control wetlands were not manipulated. Lowering wetland water levels reduced the wind velocity necessary to resuspend bottom sediments, which led to increases in turbidity, dissolved organic carbon, and concentrations of organic and inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus. Prior to drawdown, wetland periphyton communities were limited by nitrogen or co-limited by nitrogen and phosphorus. The input of nutrients from the sediment resulted in a shift from nutrient deficiency to nutrient sufficiency. Periphyton and phytoplankton production increased in response to the nutrient input. Increased turbidity, nutrient concentrations, and algal production were correlated with depth, rather than being inherent to the drawdown condition. Other water level manipulation studies have found that a reflood after a period of total drawdown caused a pulse of nutrients leaching from decomposing litter. This work suggests that these changes may not require complete drying out of sediments, or the input of large amounts of litter from drowned annual mudflat species, but rather can occur when depths are shallow enough that sediments are more frequently resuspended by wind. These findings have implications for future management of these marshes for waterfowl and muskrat production.

In the Marcellus shale region, elevated concentrations of dissolved methane in private water wells has been shown to be linked to natural gas extraction, but little is known of the connections between methane, gas production, and water chemistry. This study evaluates the relationships of methane to the major chemical constituents of groundwater by comparing analytical data obtained from a stray gas investigation by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP). Furthermore, spatiotemporal relationships of dissolved methane to gas well production and total iron (Fe) concentrations of groundwater to adjacent gas wellheads are examined. The objectives of this study were to identify essential pre- and post-drill test parameters that are sensitive to methane, and to determine what water types are associated with stray gas. It was discovered that total Fe concentrations in groundwater increased and sulfate (SO4) concentrations decreased likely as the result of redox reactions by anaerobic microbes in the presence of stray gas. Therefore, total Fe and SO4 should be mandated pre- and post-drill test parameters for baseline water quality assessments.

This experiment manipulated water levels in boreal marshes within the Saskatchewan River Delta, a 9500 km2 region in northern Canada. Water levels in three wetland cells were lowered in a partial drawdown by a mean of 0.32 m. Water clarity, nutrient concentrations, and periphyton nutrient limitation were measured over the summer preceding and the summer following manipulation. The water levels of three adjacent control wetlands were not manipulated. Lowering wetland water levels reduced the wind velocity necessary to resuspend bottom sediments, which led to increases in turbidity, dissolved organic carbon, and concentrations of organic and inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus. Prior to drawdown, wetland periphyton communities were limited by nitrogen or co-limited by nitrogen and phosphorus. The input of nutrients from the sediment resulted in a shift from nutrient deficiency to nutrient sufficiency. Periphyton and phytoplankton production increased in response to the nutrient input. Increased turbidity, nutrient concentrations, and algal production were correlated with depth, rather than being inherent to the drawdown condition. Other water level manipulation studies have found that a reflood after a period of total drawdown caused a pulse of nutrients leaching from decomposing litter. This work suggests that these changes may not require complete drying out of sediments, or the input of large amounts of litter from drowned annual mudflat species, but rather can occur when depths are shallow enough that sediments are more frequently resuspended by wind. These findings have implications for future management of these marshes for waterfowl and muskrat production.

The structure of liquid water and adsorbed leucine at solid surfaces of tunable hydropho¬bicity has been examined by molecular dynamics simulation. The results have been used to extend models of water ordering at superhydrophobic surfaces to create a general model of density-dependent ordering of water and adsorbates at hydrophobic interfaces. In this model, interfacial water structures can be classified according to two hydrophobic regimes, a non-wetting structure and a semi-wetting structure, distinguished by the orientation of interfacial water molecules. We propose that the emergence of the wetting-type order is strongly dependent on the density profile across the interfacial region. Leucine adsorbed at the same surfaces also shows two patterns of adsorption, distinguished by the proportion of time the molecule adopts an orientation parallel to the surface. These patterns correspond to the non-wetting and semi-wetting regimes of water and also arise from the density structure of water in the interfacial region.

In this thesis, a combination of laboratory experimentation under well defined conditions coupled with a kinetic modelling approach is used to verify the existence and respective kinetic rates of previously unconfirmed or postulated mechanisms that drive and limit dark Fenton (Fe(II)/H2O2) - mediated As(III) oxidation at pH 3 and 8 and dark Cu(II) - H2O2 - mediated As(III) oxidation at pH 8. Dark Fenton - mediated oxidation of As(III) at pH 3 is first examined and the effects of the variation in the concentration of reactants (As(III), Fe(II) and H2O2), oxygen, phosphate and organics (2 - propanol, formate, and citrate) are reported and analysed. The kinetic models developed for these systems show high applicability to full scale water treatment application and key mechanistic findings include the significance of the cycling of Fe(II) / Fe(III) via HO2 ???/O2 ??????, the effects of As(IV) termination reactions in the absence of oxygen and the retarding effects of phosphate due to the postulated formation of a Fe(III) - phosphate complex (at a derived rate constant of 2.2 x 106 M-1s-1, that also appears to have negligible kinetic activity in terms of reduction to Fe(II) by HO2 ???/O2 ??????). The work also demonstrates the significance of the free radical by products of formate and citrate oxidation by ???OH (HCOO???/CO2 ?????? and 3HGA???2???). The examination of the dark Cu(II) - H2O2 - mediated oxidation of As(III) at pH 8 with variation in the concentration of reactants (As(III), Fe(II) and H2O2), carbonate and organics (2 - propanol, formate and citrate) demonstrated for the first time the high applicability of this system to the pre - oxidation of As(III) in water treatment and mechanistically that ???OH and CO3 ?????? are the dominant As(III) oxidants in this system. The As(III) oxidant CO3 ??????, is suggested to be generated by the interaction of ???OH and O2 ?????? with the carbonate matrix, at the respective rate constants of 4.9 x 107 M-1s-1 and 5.5 x 106 M-1s-1. Examination of the dark Fenton - mediated oxidation of As(III) at pH 8 and the effects of variation in the concentration of reactants (As(III), Fe(II) and H2O2), carbonate, organics (2 - propanol, formate and citrate) and Cu(II) demonstrates the varied potential mechanistic pathways in relation to the generation of As(III) oxidants from the Fenton reaction, Fe(II) + H2O2 such as Fe(IV) and CO3 ?????? and the previously dismissed ???OH, due to the presence of Fe(II) - citrate complexes. This work also demonstrates and models the enhancement of As(III) oxidation in the presence of an additional transitional metal ion, Cu(II).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at El Paso, 2007. / Title from title screen. Vita. CD-ROM. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

Thesis (Ph.D. - Hydrology and Water Resources)--University of Arizona. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 200-207).