Immobilization of lead by amendments in a mine-waste impacted soil: Assessing Pb retention with desorption kinetic, sequential extraction and XANES spectroscopy.

Chemical stabilization is an in-situ remediation that uses amendments to reduce contaminant availability in polluted soils. Rates of phosphate, lime, biochar, and biosolids were evaluated as affecting Pb speciation and mobility in soil samples of a mining area located in Vazante, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Chemical and mineralogical characterization, desorption kinetics, sequential extraction, leaching evaluation in columns and speciation using X-ray absorption near edge structure were performed. Pb adsorbed on bentonite and on anglesite were the predominant species in the unamended soil. The treatments with phosphate and lime transformed part of the Pb species to pyromorphite. Conversely, part of Pb species was transformed to Pb adsorbed on citrate in the soil amended with biochar, while PbCl2 was formed in soil samples amended with biosolids. Phosphate and lime increased the Pb extracted in the residual fraction, thus showing that more recalcitrant species, such as pyromorphite, were formed. Biosolids and biochar treatments decreased the Pb in the residual fraction, and the fraction associated to organic matter increased after the addition of biosolids. Phosphate and lime were effective to immobilize Pb and to decrease Pb desorption kinetics, but the organic amendments increased the desorption kinetics of Pb in all rates applied. The soil amended with phosphate decreased the Pb leached in the experiment with leaching columns.

Soil Weathering as an Engine for Manganese Contamination of Well Water.

Manganese (Mn) contamination of well water is recognized as an environmental health concern. In the southeastern Piedmont region of the United States, well water Mn concentrations can be >2 orders of magnitude above health limits, but the specific sources and causes of elevated Mn in groundwater are generally unknown. Here, using field, laboratory, spectroscopic, and geospatial analyses, we propose that natural pedogenetic and hydrogeochemical processes couple to export Mn from the near-surface to fractured-bedrock aquifers within the Piedmont. Dissolved Mn concentrations are greatest just below the water table and decrease with depth. Solid-phase concentration, chemical extraction, and X-ray absorption spectroscopy data show that secondary Mn oxides accumulate near the water table within the chemically weathering saprolite, whereas less-reactive, primary Mn-bearing minerals dominate Mn speciation within the physically weathered transition zone and bedrock. Mass-balance calculations indicate soil weathering has depleted over 40% of the original solid-phase Mn from the near-surface, and hydrologic gradients provide a driving force for downward delivery of Mn. Overall, we estimate that >1 million people in the southeastern Piedmont consume well water containing Mn at concentrations exceeding recommended standards, and collectively, these results suggest that integrated soil-bedrock-system analyses are needed to predict and manage Mn in drinking-water wells.

Transport of E. coli in a sandy soil as impacted by depth to water table.

Septic systems are considered a source of groundwater contamination. In the study described in this article, the fate of microbes applied to a sandy loam soil from North Carolina coastal plain as impacted by water table depth was studied. Soil materials were packed to a depth of 65 cm in 17 columns (15-cm diameter), and a water table was established at 30, 45, and 60 cm depths using five replications. Each day, 200 mL of an artificial septic tank effluent inoculated with E. coli were applied to the top of each column, a 100-mL sample was collected at the water table level and analyzed for E. coli, and 100 mL was drained from the bottom to maintain the water table. Two columns were used as control and received 200 mL/day of sterilized effluent. Neither 30 nor 45 cm of unsaturated soil was adequate to attenuate bacterial contamination, while 60 cm of separation appeared to be sufficient. Little bacterial contamination moved with the water table when it was lowered from 30 to 60 cm.

Granular and Dissolved Polyacrylamide Effects on Erosion and Runoff under Simulated Rainfall.

Polyacrylamide (PAM) has been demonstrated to reduce erosion under many conditions, but less is known about the effects of its application method on erosion and concentrations in the runoff water. A rainfall simulation study was conducted to evaluate the performance of an excelsior erosion control blanket (cover) and two PAM application methods. The treatments were (i) no cover + no PAM (control), (ii) cover + no PAM, (iii) cover + granular PAM (GPAM), and (iv) cover + dissolved PAM (DPAM) applied to soil packed in wooden runoff boxes. The GPAM or DPAM (500 mg L) was surface-applied at a rate of 30 kg ha 1 d before rainfall simulation. Rainfall was applied at 83 mm h for 50 min and then repeated for another 20 min after a 30-min rest period. Runoff samples were analyzed for volume, turbidity in nephelometric turbidity units (NTU), total suspended solids (TSS), sediment particle size distribution, and PAM concentration. The cover alone reduced turbidity and TSS in runoff by >60% compared with the control (2315 NTU, 2777 mg TSS L). The PAM further reduced turbidity and TSS by >30% regardless of the application method. The median particle diameter of eroded sediments for PAM treatments was seven to nine times that of the control (12.4 µm). Loss of applied PAM in the runoff water (not sediment) was 19% for the GPAM treatment but only 2% for the DPAM treatment. Both GPAM and DPAM were effective at improving groundcover performance, but DPAM resulted in much less PAM loss.

Turbidimetric determination of anionic polyacrylamide in low carbon soil extracts.

Concerns over runoff water quality from agricultural lands and construction sites have led to the development of improved erosion control practices, including application of polyacrylamide (PAM). We developed a quick and reliable method for quantifying PAM in soil extracts at low carbon content by using a turbidimetric reagent, Hyamine 1622. Three high-molecular weight anionic PAMs differing in charge density (7, 20, and 50 mol%) and five water matrices, deionized (DI) water and extracts from four different soils, were used to construct PAM calibration curves by reacting PAM solutions with hyamine and measuring turbidity development from the PAM-hyamine complex. The PAM calibration curve with DI water showed a strong linear relationship ( = 0.99), and the sensitivity (slope) of calibration curves increased with increasing PAM charge density with a detection limit of 0.4 to 0.9 mg L. Identical tests with soil extracts showed the sensitivity of the hyamine method was dependent on the properties of the soil extract, primarily organic carbon concentration. Although the method was effective in mineral soils, the highest charge density PAM yielded a more reliable linear relationship ( > 0.97) and lowest detection limit (0.3 to 1.2 mg L), compared with those of the lower charge density PAMs (0.7 to 23 mg L). Our results suggest that the hyamine test could be an efficient method for quantifying PAM in environmental soil water samples as long as the organic carbon in the sample is low, such as in subsurface soil material often exposed at construction sites.

The impact of co-contaminants and septic system effluent quality on the transport of estrogens and nonylphenols through soil.

The impact that varying qualities of wastewater may have on the movement of steroid estrogens through soils into groundwater is little understood. In this study, the steroid estrogens 17beta-estradiol (E2) and estrone (E1) were followed through batch and column studies to examine the impact that organic wastewater constituents from on-site wastewater treatment systems (i.e., septic systems or decentralized systems) may have on influencing the rate of transport of estrogens through soils. Total organic carbon (TOC) content (as a surrogate indicator of overall wastewater quality) and the presence of nonyl-phenol polyethoxylate surfactants (NPEO) at concentrations well below the critical micelle concentration were independently shown to be indicative of earlier breakthrough and less partitioning to soil in batch and column experiments. Both NPEO and wastewater with increasing TOC concentrations led to shifts in the equilibrium of E1 and E2 towards the aqueous phase and caused the analytes to have an earlier breakthrough than in control experiments. The presence of nonylphenols, on the other hand, did not appreciably impact partitioning of E1 or E2. Biodegradation of the steroids in soil was also lower in the presence of septic tank effluents than in an organic-free control water. Furthermore, the data indicate that the rate of movement of E1 and E2 present in septic tank effluent through soils and into groundwater can be decreased by removing the NPEOs and TOC through wastewater treatment prior to sub-surface disposal. This study offers some insights into mechanisms which impact degradation, transformation, and retardation, and shows that TOC and NPEO surfactants play a role in estrogen transport.