Ground-Water Quality in the Lake Champlain Basin, New York, 2004
by Elizabeth A. Nystrom
U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Open-File Report 2006-1088
ABSTRACT
Water samples were collected from 11
public-supply wells and 11 private domestic wells in the Lake Champlain
basin in New York during the fall of 2004 to characterize the chemical
quality of ground water. Wells were selected for sampling based on
location and focused on areas of greatest ground-water use. Samples
were analyzed for 219 physical properties and constituents, including
inorganic compounds, nutrients, metals, radionuclides, pesticides and
pesticide degradates, volatile organic compounds, and bacteria.
Sixty-eight constituents were detected at concentrations above laboratory
reporting levels. The cation and anion with the highest median
concentration were calcium (34.8 mg/L) bicarbonate (134 mg/L),
respectively. The predominant nutrient was nitrate, which was detected
in 14 (64 percent) of the 22 samples. The two metals with the highest
median concentrations were iron (175 µg/L) and strontium (124 µg/L);
concentrations of iron, manganese, aluminum, and zinc exceeded U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency secondary drinking-water standards
in one or more samples. Radon concentrations were less than 1,000
picocuries per liter (pCi/L) in most samples, but concentrations
as high as 6,900 pCi/L were detected and, in eight samples, exceeded
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed maximum contaminant
level (300 pCi/L) for radon. The most frequently detected pesticides
were degradates of the broadleaf herbicides metolachlor, alachlor,
and atrazine. Volatile organic compounds were detected in only three
samples; those that were detected typically were fuel oxygenates,
such as methyl tert-butyl ether. Coliform bacteria were detected in
four samples, two of which also tested positive for E. coli.
Citation: Nystrom, E.A., 2006,
Ground-Water Quality in the Lake Champlain Basin, New York, 2004:
U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2006-1088, 21 p. (online only)
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