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<br />N aftz and Spangler <br /> <br />. l\:) facility are sufficient; th,erefore, make-up water is not <br />l'..) needed for injection op4rations. In contrast, varying <br /><=> amounts of make-up water from the alluvial aquifer <br />.....' have been used in the past as well as currently <br />(1993), for injection operations at the Aneth, Rather- <br />ford, White Mesa Unit, land McElmo Creek injection <br />facilities. The mixing and continued recycling of the <br />injection water at the i"iiection facilities has impart- <br />ed a unique isotopic signature to these OFB waters <br />that must be considered In the isotopic mixing modeL <br />In order to consider, the effects of mixing, the <br />isotopic composition of an injection water was approx- <br />imated along the OFB mixing line in graph B (Fig- <br />ure 9), mixing an equ41 volume of OFB from the <br />Aneth, Ratherford, and McElmo Creek facilities with <br />an equal volume of water from the alluvial aquifer. <br />The isotopic compositio~ or this simulated injection <br />water plots very close to' the mixing line constructed <br />through the isotopically Ejnriched water-sample values <br />from the Navajo aquifer'(graph C, Figure 9). On the <br />basis of the isotopic composition of the simulated <br />injection water (graph cj Figure 9), it is plausible to <br />assume that this water could be the source of isotopi- <br />cally enriched water in tJ-(e Navajo aquifer. <br />The mixing line shoWl) in graph C (Figure 9) was <br />used to estimate the proportion of isotopically <br />enriched injection water ithat theoretically may have <br />mixed with isotopically ijght water from the Navajo <br />aquifer to produce the isbtopically enriched water in <br />the Navajo aquifer. For illustration purposes, sample <br />N40 (graph C, Figure 9)'was used as an example of <br />water from the Navajo $quifer affected by isotopic <br />enrichment, and sample :N1~ was used to represent <br />isotopically light watet from the Navajo aquifer <br />(graph C, Figure 9). On the basis of only the isotopic <br />mixing model, sample N40 appears to be a mixture of <br /> <br />64 percent N12 water and 36 percent injectiCln water. <br />The mixing proportions for sample N40 and other <br />samples plotted along the mixing line in graph C (Fig, <br />ure 9) are listed in Table 2. <br />The mixing proportions calculated from the isotopic <br />mixing model predict that significant volumes of <br />injection water are mixing with water from the Nava- <br />jo aquifer; however, the bromide-to-chloride ratio mix- <br />ing model (Figure 6) and the iodide-to-chloride ratio <br />trend line (Figure 7) indicate that even small volumes <br />(less than one percent) of injection water have not <br />mixed with water from the Navajo aquifer. Achloride <br />mass balance was applied to the mixing proportions <br />determined from the isotopic mixing model to resolve <br />these conflicting results (Table 2). The chlodde c.on- <br />centrations predicted by the isotopic mixing model are <br />up to 13.4 times larger than the measured chloride <br />concentrations in isotopically enriched samples from <br />the Navajo aquifer (Table 2). Although the isotopic <br />results indicate that water from an isot<ipically <br />enriched end member is mixing with water from the <br />Navajo aquifer, results of the chloride mass balance <br />indicate that the injection water cannot be the source. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />IMPLICATIONS OF' RESULTS <br />AND FUTURE STUDY NEEDS <br /> <br />i <br /> <br />Bromide, iodide, chloride, and stable isotope data <br />collected to date (1993) consistently indicate that OFB . <br />and injection waters are not causing the oQserved <br />salinity increases in some parts of the Navajo aquifer. <br />It is unclear at this time what the altemative~alinity <br />source or the hydrologic mechanism causing the salin- <br />ity increase might be. <br /> <br />. <br />-J <br />, ~1 <br />,'1 <br /> <br />:! <br />j <br />j <br />:1 <br />1 <br />! <br />:1 <br />+ <br />'I <br />, <br />, <br />I <br />~ <br />~ <br />"M <br />~ <br />,~ <br />~ti <br />';: <br />,~ <br />.~ <br />..~ <br />'fi <br />. ...~ <br />,~ <br />, <br />.~ <br />i <br />:~ <br /> <br />TABLE 2. ProportHm of Injection Waler Determined from the Isotopic Mixing Model Compared with Mea-sured and <br />Calcul~ted Chloride Concentrations in Water from Selected Wells from the Navajo Aquifer <br />{chloride concentration in milligrams per kilogram]. <br /> <br /> Calculated <br /> CWoride <br /> Percent Percent Measured Concentration <br />Sample Injection Freshwater CWoride from Isotopic <br />Site Water from N12 Concentration Mixing Model <br />N40 36 64 1,700 8,300 <br />N33 38 62 2,800 8,700 <br />N19 47 53 2,600 11,000 <br />N35 50 50 3,600 11,000 <br />N32 53 47 3,500 12,000 <br />N42 53 47 890 12,000 <br />N46 58 42 1,100 13,000 <br />N23 58 42 1,300 13,000 <br />N36 59 41 4,200 13,000 <br />N25 62 38 1,600 14,000 <br />N2l 75 25 1,900 17,000 <br />WATER RESOURCES BULI,.ETIN 1132 <br /> <br />~ <br />~ <br /> <br />"! <br />~ <br />~ <br />"1 <br /> <br />,:,)l' ,"' c..;;?1<i_~.J';, _d:' <br /> <br /> <br />-~" <br />