Assessing changing water quality in Peru due to glacial recession
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Date
2014-03-26
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Abstract
As concerns over future access to fresh water are beginning to
spread in the United States, other more vulnerable regions like
western-draining Andean watersheds in Peru are already
feeling the effects of climate change on drinking water. Here,
the glaciated peaks of the Andes buffer seasonal contrasts in
stream runoff. However, these glaciers are now receding faster
than ever before, and scientists have already recorded
significant reductions in the water they supply to rivers.
Furthermore, certain streams have also been found to have
adversely high acidity and potentially toxic concentrations of
certain heavy metals. Many such streams are used in
agricultural irrigation. To test the extent and source(s) of river
water contamination in Peruvian glacier-fed streams, surveys
were undertaken during three consecutive dry seasons (June-
July), 2011-13, to analyze the concentrations of various
dissolved metals and isotopes along the Santa River draining
the Cordillera Blanca to the Pacific coast. I joined the sampling
survey during three weeks of June-July 2013, and I am now
measuring dissolved concentrations of 32 different metals from
over 60 sample locations the in Santa River watershed. Other
researchers in our group are measuring the metal
concentrations contained within the suspended sediments, and
at the bottom of the river bed. These results will be compiled
and compared against two previous surveys (2011, 2012), with
a focus on certain toxic heavy metals such as lead, cadmium,
and arsenic that are dangerous to human health if found above
levels set by the World Health Organization. The goal of this
research is to note any trends occurring in the concentrations
of these metals. I hypothesize that the change in concentrations
of metals will be correlated to their reactivity's and their
atomic weights.
Description
Agriculture/Environmental Science: 2nd Place (The Ohio State University Denman Undergraduate Research Forum)
Keywords
trace metal, Glacier, Cordillera Blanca, metal concentration, Glacial recession