Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2002AR11B

Chemical Variation of Water From The Alluvial Aquifer

Institute: Arkansas
Year Established: 2002 Start Date: 2002-03-01 End Date: 2003-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $14,071 Total Non-Federal Funds: $28,142

Principal Investigators: Kenneth Steele, Kenneth Steele

Project Summary: ABSTRACT Concentrations as low as 70 mg/L of chloride in irrigation water can negatively impact crop production. There are a number of the alluvial aquifer wells with these concentrations scattered throughout eastern Arkansas where irrigation with ground water is common. In addition to chloride, other parameters (e.g., sodium, bicarbonate [alkalinity], sulfate and zinc) that effect soil quality and crop production also vary in concentration. The goal of this project is to provide data that will be useful in determining whether mixing of saline water (from depth or from clay-silt lenses) or geochemical evolution of water is responsible for the variation in alluvial aquifer. The objective is to determine the chemical variation of ground water from the alluvial aquifer in both shallow (about 30 feet deep) and deep wells (about 90 feet deep) on local aerial basis where well separation for the shallow wells is 1000 feet or less and is 2500 feet or less for deep wells. Variation due to collection, analytical and water table level will be determined in order that true aerial variation may be determined.