Inorganic Water Quality Monitoring Using Specific Conductance in Mexico |
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| Authors: | Luis E. Marí n,B. Steinich,Oscar Escolero,Rosa Marí a Leal,Braulio Silva,Susana Gutierrez |
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| Affiliation: | Luis E. Marín;has a B.A. in geology/chemistry from the University of Maine-Farmington, 1984;an M.S. in geology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1986;and a Ph.D. from Northern Illinois University, 1990. Currently, he is an associate professor at the Mexican National University. His research interests include aqueous geochemistry and ground water contamination. E-mail: lmarin@tonatiuh.igeofcu.unam.mx Birgit Steinich;has an M.S. in geophysics from the Geophysics Instiute in Hamburg, Germany, and a Ph.D. from the Geophysics Institute at the Mexican National University, 1996. Her current interests are geophysical applications to ground water problems including exploration and contamination. E-mail: birgit@trex.igeolcu.unam.mx Oscar Escolero;has a B.S. in civil engineering from the Universidad Veracruzana in Jalapa, Veracruz, 1989. He holds an M.S. in civil engineering from the Mexican National University, 1991. He is currently working on a Ph.D. at the Geophysics Institute at the Mexican National University. His research interests include aqueous geochemistry and ground water flow modeling. Rosa Maria Leal;holds a B.S. in chemical engineering from the Universidad Popular Autónoma de Puebla, 1989. She currently finished an M.S. in environmental engineering at the Mexican National University. Her interests are transport mechanisms and aquifer remediation. E-mail: rosab@servidor.unam.nx Braulio Silva;holds a B.S. in civil engineering from the Mexican National University. He is currently working as a hydrogeologist in the Comisión Nacional del Agua. His interest is in ground water contamination. Susana Gutierrez;holds a B.S. in geological engineering from the Mexican National University. She is currently working as a hydrogeologist in the Comisión Nacional del Agua. Her interests are in ground water contamination and geochemical modeling. |
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| Abstract: | ![]()
Five inorganic geochemical data sets with ion balances less than or equal to 5% (for different hydrogeologic basins in Mexico) were used to construct specific conductance (SC) vs. total dissolved solids (TDS) curves for each aquifer. These curves allow one to proxy the specific conductance for inorganic water quality. The data from these five curves were integrated to form a "global" curve for Mexico. The equation that defines the line is SC = 1.40 TDS + 18. We propose that, in addition to allowing ground water monitoring, establishing a SC vs. TDS curve may be implemented to monitor drinking water supplies such as wells and reservoirs. If anomalously high values are observed, this would warrant detailed geochemical sampling. |
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