My WebLink
|
Help
|
About
|
Sign Out
Home
Browse
Search
WSP11739
CWCB
>
Water Supply Protection
>
Backfile
>
11000-11999
>
WSP11739
Metadata
Thumbnails
Annotations
Entry Properties
Last modified
1/26/2010 3:18:42 PM
Creation date
10/12/2006 5:08:34 AM
Metadata
Fields
Template:
Water Supply Protection
File Number
8443.400
Description
Narrows Project - Reports
State
CO
Basin
South Platte
Water Division
1
Date
1/1/1963
Author
US DoI USGS
Title
A Primer On Ground Water
Water Supply Pro - Doc Type
Report/Study
There are no annotations on this page.
Document management portal powered by Laserfiche WebLink 9 © 1998-2015
Laserfiche.
All rights reserved.
/
30
PDF
Print
Pages to print
Enter page numbers and/or page ranges separated by commas. For example, 1,3,5-12.
After downloading, print the document using a PDF reader (e.g. Adobe Reader).
Show annotations
View images
View plain text
<br /> <br />-- ",' <br />~v...._ <br />well ....'alt:r. ho.....e\.er. may contain so much dis- <br />solved matler that it i5 not fit to drink. <br />Water i.. a solvent. From the time rain falls <br />to the ground and bq;:-ins to run off or pass into <br />and through ~il and ro(-ks, il di,.;,oh-t"S tht: rock!' <br />and thus pick.~ up from th{~rn various mineral <br />con.~tituents. <br />Because ground water is in contact with rocks <br />and willongCT than surface waler. it usually ha'! <br />more di,,<;Qln'd mineral'! in it. \\"t: caU tht"St: dis- <br />wIved mineral" Jalts, and if Ihere is a very high <br />concentration of them we call the ""ater salint!'. <br />Such salts include. mO"t commonly. "Odium, cal- <br />dum. magnesium. and pota...,ium, plus the chlo- <br />ride, sulfate. and bicarbonate needed to make <br />complete compounds, H the dissoh"ed solids ex- <br />ceed 1,000 ppm (parts per million-that is, 1.000 <br />pounds of salt for each million pounds of water) <br />the wall.'r is c1a'S.."Cd as saline. \\"ater containing <br />more than 500 ppm of dissoh'ed solids is not con- <br />sidered dbirable for dome-tic supplies, though <br />more highly mineralized water is commonh' ust"d <br />where better water i<; not available. <br />\\" ater that contains a lot of calcium and mag:- <br />ncsium salts i~ said to be hard. The hardness of <br />water can he mca"ured according to the follow- <br />ing table. in tC'mlS of the amount of calcium <br />caroonate (the principal comlituent of limt'SlOne) <br />or its equivalent that would he formed if the water <br />were evaporated: <br /> <br />r,,~t. pr~ ..dlll..~ <br />0-60____~_________~__~___________ Soh <br />6!-120____h__________~__________ Mod..rall'!r h~rd <br />121-180______________________~___ Hard <br />~fote than ISO______h____________ Very hatd <br />\' ery hard water i<; not gCXld for domestic sup- <br />plies b<-cau~ soap will not lather easily in it. <br />This is less a problem now than it "'a~ bC'fore syn- <br />thetic detergent" .....ere introduced. but detergents <br />ha\"e introduced problem~ of their own, as we <br />shalll'('e. Hard watC'r leaves a scaly dCJx~it on <br />the imide of pipes. ooilers, and tanh, and thi.'! <br />propeny reduces ils suitability for IXlth home and <br />some industrial use>" Howe\"Cr, hard water can <br />~ madt: soh at fairly rea<;onable cost. It is not <br />al.....ays desirable to remo\"e all the minerals that <br />make "'"ateI' hard. Really soh water is Iikdy to <br />corrode machin(:S and hoilt:l"S. and is suitable only <br />for launderin~. dLshwashing. and bathing_ <br />Water for a municipal supply must strike a rea.'IOn- <br />able balanct: between hardness and softnes.~, <br /> <br />Another quality ","hich must be considered in <br />.....ater. whether from ground or surface sources, is <br />the balance between alkalies and acids. This <br />balance i~ known as Ihe pH. .--\ pH of 7 indi- <br />cates neutral water. Abo'"e a pH of 7, the water <br />Ls alkaline; helm" 7, it is acid. Alkaline ""ater <br />will tend to form "COlle; acid water is corrosh'e. <br />Good water should be nearly neutral, neither too <br />alkaline nor too acid. <br />Excessi\'f~ iron ohen occurs in ground water, <br />l'Spt'cially water that is a little on the acid side, <br />and it can be very annoying. It causes reddish <br />stains on fixtures and dOlhing, Like hardness, <br />an exccssh"e iron content can be reduced rather <br />easily in a watcn~'orks. :\11 that Ls necessar)' is <br />10 spray the water into the air so that it is exposed <br />to pknty of oxygen. The iron precipitates and <br />can he remo\"ed by scttling or filtration. Some <br />home water sohencr$ also remove iron. <br />In high concentrations, certain salts can cause <br />special troubles, Too much sodium chloride <br />(table salt) in the water can be harmful to pe0- <br />ple ",'ho han: heart trouble. Boron is a mineral <br />that is good for plants in small amounts, but is <br />poisonou-'1 in onl>" slightly Iarger quantities. <br />All th{'S{' and many otht:r salts are present in <br />ground water to a greater or lesser degree. In <br />man's acli\"ilie; it is importalll to know the chem- <br />ical colllem and profXlrtion of salts in the water <br />supply. For this purpose, chemical analyses an: <br />made routinely and regularly on municipal and <br />industrial water supplies, whether from ground <br />or surface sources. <br />~Iineral salts arc natural ingredient.. of ground <br />water. However, dL'iposal of industrial .....astes <br />into ground and surface .....ater is adding to the <br />accumulation of salts in our watcr. Industries <br />ha\"e always found it con\'('nient to dispose of their <br />wastes in thc nearest rin~r, although in rcunt <br />year.; community action and legL~lation havc some- <br />what rcstrained this practice. When !'tTcam <br />water i~ poilu led by indll.<.trial wastes, the pollu- <br />lion can affect the ....'3tcr in adjacent aquifers. <br />This i.. because some wound-.....ater rescn'oirs are <br />rechar~ed by <;{"cpage from streams. For ex- <br />,1mple. the di<i.Charge of phenol wastes into the <br />CalOCl"ahatchie Ri\"('r has made it necessary to <br />abandon some wells near Fort ~fyers, F1a" Oil- <br />well wa~tcs have !-x:en dumped into the Canadian <br />and .\rkan~as Ri\"Crs in Oklahoma, and thev have <br />contaminated some nearhy weUs.. Chro~ium. <br />bearing wa~tes contaminated certain industrial <br /> <br />11 <br /> <br />
The URL can be used to link to this page
Your browser does not support the video tag.