Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2009NH117B

A pilot study of septic impacts on water quality using Boron concentrations and isotopes as a source tracer

Institute: New Hampshire
Year Established: 2009 Start Date: 2009-03-01 End Date: 2010-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $29,949 Total Non-Federal Funds: $54,770

Principal Investigators: Jeffrey Schloss

Project Summary: The contamination of surface water by septic systems has become a growing environmental and economic concern during the shoreland development boom of the past decade. However, it is complicated to quantify the magnitude of the impact and to attribute precise sources, making it difficult for regulars to address the issue. Tracers have been used to assess the influence septic effluent has on surface waters. Boron has proved to be a particularly useful tracer in some regions for measuring the transport and rate of septic contamination and can be used to describe effluents role in surface water quality. This study will use boron concentrations in groundwater and surface water to estimate the influence of septic systems on groundwater and surface water. We will use the Squam Lake Watershed as the test location for this pilot study because of the excellent background water quality data and land use information available from a variety of sources. Our goals are to evaluate this method for application in the northeast, and based on the pilot results, provide preliminary recommendations for water quality protection to the five towns in the Squam Watershed.