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

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Studie. done by Stepben. and
otber. (1988) in tbe aiddle Green
River area of Utah identified .eleni...
COntaaination of varying degree. at
Stewart Lake Waterfowl Manage..nt Area
(WMA), lower A.bley Creek, and Ouray
Rational Wildlife Refuge. Sub.equent
inve.tigation indieated tbe presenee
of .eleniua in I..ller concentrations
at Pariette Wetlandl and Desert Lake
MMA (fig. 3). ~he aource of aeleniua
atr Stewart Lake WIIA wae irrigation
drainage wbicb .upplie.-virtually all
of tbe inf low to tbe -.lake. Large
concentration. of seleniua in Alhley
Creek are believed to be the result of
inflow. from springs, sballow ground
water, and possibly subsurface drains.
Those sources are presently under
investigation. Both Ashley Creek and
Stewart Lake WMA are loeated on a
large outcrop of Cretaceous Maneos
Shale.
At Ouray NWR, sh~ow.~r4~d
wate_r...._~lkely.....,esul1:ing-from recberge
by.iJ:rigation tailwater.,. has.contami-
nated about. 10 percent_of tne western
part of the refuge. pariette Wetlands
receives irrigation tailwater, and a
small amount of strelllllflow. Ouray NWR
and Pariette Wetlands are on Quater-
nary alluvium underlain by the Du-
chesne River Formation, a deposit
classified by Rosenfeld and Beath
(1964, p. 26) as "seleniferous in
areas". Desert Lake WMA, located on
Mancos Shale, receives irrigation
tailwater and ~ small quantity of
drain water.
Summary data for concentrations
of selenium in water collected from
these sites during 1986-88 are shown
in figure 4 (Stephens and otbers,
1988). Generally these samples were
collected during irrigation seasons
(April-October). Areas having the
greatest concentrations of selenium
and therefore, exhibiting tbe greatest
potential for barmful effects were:
Stewart Lake WMA, Ashley Creek, and
portions of Ouray NWR. Concentrations
of selenium in water from Pariette
Wetlands and Desert Lake WMA did not
exceed the State wildlife protection

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171

.tandard of 50 ug/L. Wbile water
...ple. were analyzed for aany inor-
genie and organic con.tituent., .ele-
niu. wa. the element of principle
coneern. However, eoncentration. of
boron and uraniua occasionally exeeed-
ed benefieial-use standard. for agri-
culture and human con.umption at
several sites. Tb__clo..-a..o~ation
of uran ium witb' .eleniu. ...ia ."e1.1
l!nawn, allll the d18ttibattonof seleni-
wa-conCltntrating vAgetati_ wa. u.ed
as a botanical prospectiD9~OOl in the
1950's (Cannon and lUeinha1llpl, 1956).

SELENIUM IN
BIOLOGICAL COMMUNmES

Selenium is required in trace
llIIlounts (0.1-0.2 parts per mUlion)
for human and animal nutrition and is
intimately related to the metabolism
of vitamin E (Combs and Combs, 1986.
p. 265, 310). In many areas of the
United States, feed for domestic
11 vestock must be supplemented wi th
seleni"m. However, in some areas of
the western United States, open-range
grazing on selenium-eoneentrating
vegetation may produce acute pOison-
ing, blind staggers, or alkalai dis-
ease.
In pond or marsh eommunities,
selenium in water is taken up by
plants or deposited as sediments. It
may travel tbrough the ecosystem in
several forms. some of wbicb are very
toxic. Fi9ure 5 illustrates tbe
movement of selenium tbrough a simple
pond system. Within organisms, sele-
nium may substitute for sulfur in
amino acids such as metbionine and
cysteine and become biologically
concentrated. Because proteins b"ilt
with these substituted amino acids do
not operate properly, organisms expe-
rience reduced reproduction, bebavior-
al abnormalities, and deformities.
Mortality of juveniles and
adults and adverse effects on repro-
duction. sucb as deformed embryos. are
the principle toxic effects observed
in fisb and birds when large concen-