WSPC00560

• File Number: 8270.200
• Description: Colorado River - Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program - CRBSCP
• State: CO
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Water Division: 5
• Date: 10/1/1989
• Title: Selenium Contamination from Irrigation Drainage in the Western United States with Emphasis on Utah
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

171

-

.

--

e:?7iJO

TIbII1.-conc:...Il.~' or MlInIum,
In micrograms per ~ wet MIght,
In .-e1111lle1, ftIh, ancI WlIWfo.41 fnlm Stewart L.Ike
W..r...fo.41 u.nag.ment AIu end Ouray NatIonal
WldBf. Refuge, 1817~

Food Item

Area of CoDectian

Number of Selenium
samples
1 8.5
1 <2
1 <2
3 12.7
2 128.8
2 130.5
2 165
5 1150

~ ,.., St8W8lt lak8 WMA
cabbage garden at Ouray NWR
radishes garden at Ouray NWR
deer liver Ouray NWR
goose liver Ouray NWR
mallard breast Ouray NWR
channel catfish filets Stewlllt lak8 WMA
carp filets Stewlllt lak8 WMA

1 A 10-ounce serving would provide seleRum in excess of the 200 ug per day ~um recommended by
the National Acadlll1lY of Sciences (1980).

Ros.nfeld and B.atb (1964, p. 5) has
be.n questioned b.caus. the symptoms
of the diseas. are limilar to polioen-
cephalomalaeia, a neurologieal disor-
der eaused not by .eleniu. but by
tbiamine deficiency, (J.C. Case,
Me.orandum to Selenium Work Group
Members: .Larallie. WY, Geological
Survey of Wyoming, Sept. 19, 1988).
As data beco.e available from
field and laboratory studies of the
effects of selenium on hUllans and
wildlife, it i. likely to result in
changes in regulatory standards.
Presently the ~~lat~__~9DcentrAtiOD.~f
seleniUlll ~llowed. .in..4dAkill9 water for
humans is lO ug/~ (0.5. Environmental
Protection Agency, 1987: Otab Depart-
ment of Social Services, 1978).
Hammer (1981) su....rized considerable
research on selenium and hUllan healtb
and reeommended tbe standard for

drinking weter be rai.ed to 50 ug/L.
At prelent, tbe federal water-
quality eriterion for the protection
of aquatic organi... specifies the
..xi.u. concentration of .elenium in
water not exceed 20 ug/L (0.5. Envi-
ronaental Protection Agency, 1987). A
large volume of research bas been done
on selenium effects in wildlife in the
last 5 years, leading so.e scientists
to suggest the .tandard for selenium
in water be reduced to 2 to 5 ug/L for
wildlife protection (Lemly, 198s, p.
335). At present, the Otah standard
for the protection of aquatic wildlife
is 50 ug/L.
Reeonnaissance studies have been
completed or are in progress at 20
sites initially identified by the
Department of the Interior as sites of
potential eontamination by irrigation
drainage (fig. 1). Pour of these