Quality of water in the alluvial aquifer, American Bottoms, East St. Louis, Illinois
Ground-water levels in the American Bottoms region around East St. Louis, Illinois, have risen several feet since the early 1970's. Artificial dewatering of the aquifer by increased pumping is being investigated by the US Army Corps of Engineers to alleviate economic and health concerns that have resulted from elevated ground-water levels. An evaluation of the ground-water quality is necessary for selecting a feasible dewatering scheme. Analyses of water samples from 63 wells show that most constituent concentrations do not exceed State of Illinois water-quality standards. The waters are primarily of the calcium-magnesium-bicarbonate type with some calcium-sulfate type water. Iron concentrations ranged from less than 3 to 82,000 micrograms per liter, manganese from 5 to 5300 micrograms per liter, and dissolved solids from 140 to 3000 milligrams per liter. These three constituent concentrations exceeded Illinois' public water-supply, effluent, and general water-quality standards in 79, 92, and 67% of the samples, respectively. Concentrations of nitrite + nitrate nitrogen, fluoride, mercury, zinc, lead, and sulfate also exceeded Illinois water-quality standards in a few samples from individual wells. With the exception of one sample containing 0.01 micrograms per liter of Dieldrin, concentrations of organic pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls, and polychlorinated naphthalenes were below analytical detection limits in the 15 samples analyzed for these constituents. Water-quality samples were collected during two different hydrologic conditions to see if constituent concentrations changed with changes in ground-water levels. Chemical constituent concentrations did not change significantly with changes in water levels. 17 refs., 14 figs., 5 tabs.
- Research Organization:
- Geological Survey, Urbana, IL (USA). Water Resources Div.
- OSTI ID:
- 5221990
- Report Number(s):
- USGS/WRI-84-4180; ON: TI86900034
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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GROUND WATER
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