Nitrate Concentration Patterns in California Groundwater
Date
2013-02-18
Authors
Siegel, Amber J. M.
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Abstract
This thesis used publically available data on nitrate concentrations in California water supply wells to analyze nitrate concentration patterns in California’s groundwater. Delaunay triangulation was used with nitrate values in water supply wells to create polygons representing areas predicted to be above California’s Maximum Contaminant Level for nitrate as NO3of 45 mg/L. These areas were used to analyze what types of land use, soil types, and groundwater basins might be found in areas of high nitrate concentration. These areas were also buffered at 1, 5, and 10 miles and the buffer areas used to analyze proximity to environmental management wells where high nitrate concentrations were monitored by the State. Zones of high nitrate concentrations were created using the entire year’s worth of data and were created for each month individually. The monthly breakouts allowed for patterns of seasonality to be considered during the analysis.
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Keywords
Nitrate, Water supply well, Delaunay Triangulation, Environmental management well, Groundwater, California