HR: 1330h
AN: B33A-05    [Abstracts]
TI: A National Survey of TOC Trends in Relation to Watershed Characteristics and DBP Formation Potential
AU: * Boutin, A L
EM: boutin@ecs.umass.edu
AF: University of Massachusetts, Environmental Engineering, 18 Marston 130 Natural Resource Rd, Amherst, MA 01003 United States
AU: Studervant Rees, P L
EM: rees@ecs.umass.edu
AF: University of Massachusetts, Environmental Engineering, 18 Marston 130 Natural Resource Rd, Amherst, MA 01003 United States
AU: Reckhow, D A
EM: reckhow@ecs.umas.edu
AF: University of Massachusetts, Environmental Engineering, 18 Marston 130 Natural Resource Rd, Amherst, MA 01003 United States
AU: Devine, G
EM: gdevine@ecs.umass.edu
AF: University of Massachusetts, Environmental Engineering, 18 Marston 130 Natural Resource Rd, Amherst, MA 01003 United States
AB: All drinking water supplies contain some background organic matter. Usually these organics are naturally-occurring plant product or their derivatives. In the early 1970s NOM became a focus of concern as its central role in the formation of potentially carcinogenic disinfection byproducts (DBPs) was recognized. Different watershed are known to result in waters with different levels of NOM, however the factors that lead to these differences are not understood. It's now clear that more attention must be paid to the upstream processes that give rise to NOM in raw waters. The total organic carbon (TOC) is one of the most widely used measures for quantifying the amount of NOM in water. Impacts of man made changes in the watershed effect NOM quantity and quality. To understand what watershed characteristics most affect NOM quantity and quality, and therefore the threat of increased DBPs, we are seeking out long term, broad range data on TOC concentrations. This project has initiated the development of a comprehensive database on TOC in raw waters. TOC data has been collected and analyzed from existing database sources (STORET, USGS stations) in order to represent large-scale trends across ecoregions and land use types. TOC and DBP data has been collected from participating water treatment plants, spread across North America, to analyze the observed TOC trends against the water quality management of the water plants. Results are presented first as visual spatial and temporal trends of existing TOC values across the nation, second as a correlation of land cover types to shown TOC values, and third as potential correlation to TOC values observed at participating water treatment facilities and its relation to DBPs. Select results will be presented.
DE: 0400 Biogeosciences
DE: 1857 Reservoirs (surface)
DE: 1899 General or miscellaneous
DE: 9350 North America
SC: Biogeosciences [B]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly