Isotopic heterogeneity in U.S. Urban water supply systems reflects climatic, environmental, and sociodemographic factors: Implications for forensic identification. PLOS ONE. (original) (raw)
Related papers
2010
The isotopic composition of drinking water and diet influence the isotopic composition of body water. In turn, body water influences the isotopic composition of organic matter in tissues, such as hair and teeth, which are used to reconstruct movement patterns of animals and humans. While predictive models of both the isotopic composition of body water and the isotopic composition of hair exist, they are independent and have yet to be coupled. Here we present an integrated model linking the isotopic composition of body water to that of hair. We use observations from two species of non-human primates to test the coupled model. Hair and plasma samples were obtained from Macaca fascicularis and Chlorocebus aethiops sabaeus via the Wake Forest University Primate Center (WFUPC). Animals were maintained on three different, yet isocaloric, diets: a soy-protein based diet, a casein-protein based diet, and a standard chow diet. We analyzed the 2 H and 18 O isotope ratios of hair, water cryogenically extracted from plasma, all diet types, and drinking water. Measured isotope ratio values were then used to test the comprehensive and integrated model of 2 H and 18 O isotope ratios in these primates.
Stable isotope ratios of tap water in the contiguous United States
Water Resources Research, 2007
1] Understanding links between water consumers and climatological (precipitation) sources is essential for developing strategies to ensure the long-term sustainability of water supplies. In pursing this understanding a need exists for tools to study and monitor complex human-hydrological systems that involve high levels of spatial connectivity and supply problems that are regional, rather than local, in nature. Here we report the first national-level survey of stable isotope ratios in tap water, including spatially and temporally explicit samples from a large number of cities and towns across the contiguous United States. We show that intra-annual ranges of tap water isotope ratios are relatively small (e.g., <10% for d 2 H) at most sites. In contrast, spatial variation in tap water isotope ratios is very large, spanning ranges of 163% for d 2 H and 23.6% for d 18 O. The spatial distribution of tap water isotope ratios at the national level is similar to that of stable isotope ratios of precipitation. At the regional level, however, pervasive differences between tap water and precipitation isotope ratios can be attributed to hydrological factors in the water source to consumer chain. These patterns highlight the potential for monitoring of tap water isotope ratios to contribute to the study of regional water supply stability and provide warning signals for impending water resource changes. We present the first published maps of predicted tap water isotope ratios for the contiguous United States, which will be useful in guiding future research on humanhydrological systems and as a tool for applied forensics and traceability studies.
In the western U.S., the mismatch between public water demands and natural water availability necessitates large interbasin transfers of water as well as groundwater mining of fossil aquifers. Here we identify probable situations of nonlocal water use in both space and time based on isotopic comparisons between tap waters and potential water resources within hydrologic basins. Our approach, which considers evaporative enrichment of heavy isotopes during storage and distribution, is used to determine the likelihood of local origin for 612 tap water samples collected from across the western U.S. We find that 64% of samples are isotopically distinct from precipitation falling within the local hydrologic basin, a proxy for groundwater with modern recharge, and 31% of samples are isotopically distinct from estimated surface water found within the local basin. Those samples inconsistent with local water sources, which we suggest are likely derived from water imported from other basins or extracted from fossil aquifers, are primarily clustered in southern California, the San Francisco Bay area, and central Arizona. Our isotope-based estimates of nonlocal water use are correlated with both hydrogeomorphic and socioeconomic properties of basins, suggesting that these factors exert a predictable influence on the likelihood that nonlocal waters are used to supply tap water. We use these basin properties to develop a regional model of nonlocal water resource use that predicts (r 2 5 0.64) isotopically inferred patterns and allows assessment of total interbasin transfer and/or fossil aquifer extraction volumes across the western U.S.
Water Resources Research
In the western U.S., the mismatch between public water demands and natural water availability necessitates large interbasin transfers of water as well as groundwater mining of fossil aquifers. Here we identify probable situations of nonlocal water use in both space and time based on isotopic comparisons between tap waters and potential water resources within hydrologic basins. Our approach, which considers evaporative enrichment of heavy isotopes during storage and distribution, is used to determine the likelihood of local origin for 612 tap water samples collected from across the western U.S. We find that 64% of samples are isotopically distinct from precipitation falling within the local hydrologic basin, a proxy for groundwater with modern recharge, and 31% of samples are isotopically distinct from estimated surface water found within the local basin. Those samples inconsistent with local water sources, which we suggest are likely derived from water imported from other basins or extracted from fossil aquifers, are primarily clustered in southern California, the San Francisco Bay area, and central Arizona. Our isotope-based estimates of nonlocal water use are correlated with both hydrogeomorphic and socioeconomic properties of basins, suggesting that these factors exert a predictable influence on the likelihood that nonlocal waters are used to supply tap water. We use these basin properties to develop a regional model of nonlocal water resource use that predicts (r 2 5 0.64) isotopically inferred patterns and allows assessment of total interbasin transfer and/or fossil aquifer extraction volumes across the western U.S.
Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies, 2018
Study region: Brussels (Belgium) and Nantes (France), two cities located in oceanic settings. Study focus: The article assesses the capabilities of detecting the presence of groundwater in sewers and waste-water in storm sewers (also called parasitic waters), which increase seweroverflows risk, augment the water-treatment plant operation costs and pollute downstream rivers. This is done by means of Laser Absorption Spectroscopy (LAS) instruments that favor the development of stable isotopes (δ18O and δD) as tracer of urban waters. The study first describes the factors affecting isotopic composition of urban waters. It also describes how to optimize the use of stable isotopes, either alone or coupled with other tracers to detect parasitic waters. New hydrological insights: In Nantes, groundwater intrusions were detected above 8% of the sewer-water flow and waste-water inflows above 14% of the sewer-water flow. In Brussels, the stable isotopes may trace the presence of parasitic groundwater in a small part of the city territory (9 km 2). This study concludes that stable isotopes can be used as tracer of parasitic waters in low altitude cities close to the ocean, when domestic water originates from catchments extending into the continent. In this case, tracing studies may take advantage of the seasonal variation of the isotopic composition of waste-waters, on the condition of assessing the other factors that impact the isotopic composition of urban waters, as done here. 1. Introduction 1.1. Stable isotopes as tracer Water stable isotopes (δ 18 O, δD) have long been used as tracer in hydrological studies in natural catchments and are increasingly used in urban settings (IAEA 2002; Klaus and McDonnell, 2013). The δ 18 O and δD values (expressed in ‰) of one particular waterbody depend on the physico-chemical processes (e.g. evaporation and condensation) and the climate conditions to which the waterbody has been subjected (IAEA, 2000a). Therefore, δ 18 O or δD values may be used to qualify and/or quantify the specific climate conditions or the processes that have impacted the different water-bodies (Rozanski, 1985, Schulte et al., 2011) and assess the relative proportion of two or more water sources (also called end-members) in a water-body (Barth and Veizer, 2004; Klaus and McDonnell, 2013). However, their applicability as tracers requires sufficient isotopic differences between end-members (Klaus and McDonnell, 2013). The application of such tracers therefore depends on the correct definition of the isotopic composition of each end
Water research, 2010
This paper investigates the potential of stable isotopes of both water (deltaD and deltaOH(2)O18) and dissolved sulfate (delta(34)S and deltaOSO(4)18) for determining the origin and the amount of clear waters entering an urban sewer. The dynamics of various hydrological processes that commonly occur within the sewer system such as groundwater infiltration, rainwater percolation, or stormwater release from retention basins, can be readily described using water isotope ratios. In particular, stable water isotopes indicate that the relative volumes of infiltrated groundwater and sewage remain approximately constant and independent of wastewater flow rate during the day, thus demonstrating that the usual quantification of parasitic discharge from minimal nocturnal flow measurements can lead to completely erroneous results. The isotopic signature of dissolved sulfate can also provide valuable information about the nature of water inputs to the sewage flow, but could not be used in our ca...
Minerals, 2020
Heavy metal contamination was identified in groundwater monitoring wells surrounding a waste deposit facility at the Rönnskär Cu–Pb–Zn smelter in Skellefteå, Northern Sweden, as well as in brackish water and sediments from the nearby harbor. Following an investigative study of the surrounding area, brackish water from the Baltic Sea and sediments from a nearby harbor were also determined to be contaminated. This study investigated the ranges of isotopic compositions of four elements (Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn) in smelter materials (ores, products, and waste) and polluted groundwater sediments of the affected area. The study’s objective was to evaluate the variability of the polluting source and identify possible isotope fractionation. This study further assesses the viability of using isotopic information to identify the source of the pollutant. These data were used in combination with multi-element screening analysis and multivariate statistical techniques. Expanding the number of element...
Hydrogen and oxygen isotope ratios in human hair are related to geography
Proceedings of the …, 2008
We develop and test a model to predict the geographic region-oforigin of humans based on the stable isotope composition of their scalp hair. This model incorporates exchangeable and nonexchangeable hydrogen and oxygen atoms in amino acids to predict the ␦ 2 H and ␦ 18 O values of scalp hair (primarily keratin). We evaluated model predictions with stable isotope analyses of human hair from 65 cities across the United States. The model, which predicts hair isotopic composition as a function of drinking water, bulk diet, and dietary protein isotope ratios, explains >85% of the observed variation and reproduces the observed slopes relating the isotopic composition of hair samples to that of local drinking water.
UNDERSTANDING AND OVERCOMING BASELINE ISOTOPIC VARIABILITY IN RUNNING WATERS
River Research and Applications, 2014
Natural abundances of stable isotopes in lotic food webs yield valuable information about sources of organic matter for consumers and trophic structure. However, interpretation of isotopic information can be challenging in the face of variability in organisms at the base of food webs. Unionid and dreissenid mussels, commonly used as baseline organisms in lakes, are uncommon in many river settings and can have variable diets, thus making them unsuitable as a universal baseline for many river food web studies and often forcing reliance on more common benthic insects for this purpose. Turnover rates of body carbon and nitrogen in insects are relatively rapid (1 to 50 days half-life). These rapid turnover rates in primary consumers can result in considerable temporal variability in d 13 C that rivals that of algae (>10% range within a site). This suggests that using primary consumers as a surrogate baseline for algae may not circumvent the problem of temporal variability and the resultant mismatch of sources with longer-lived, slow-growing secondary and tertiary consumers. There are several strategies for reducing the influence of these confounding factors when bivalves with a known diet are not present. These include sampling over large spatial scales and correlating d 13 C of consumers with the source of interest (e.g. benthic algae), sampling baseline organisms multiple times in the weeks preceding sampling of larger consumers (particularly in response to large changes in discharge) and using algal-detrital separation methods and multiple tracers as much as possible. Incorporating some of these recommendations and further exploring variability at the base of the food web will potentially provide greater insights into consumer-resource coupling in running waters and more robust conclusions about food web structure and energy flow in these dynamic systems.