Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID IA_2023_Petrich

Using Optical Brighteners as Proxies for Probing Waste in Surface Water

Institute: Iowa
Year Established: 2023 Start Date: 2023-09-01 End Date: 2024-08-31
Total Federal Funds: $20,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $29,156

Principal Investigators: Jacob Petrich

Project Summary: Optical brighteners absorb light in the ultraviolet and violet region of the electromagnetic spectrum, and reemit light by a process known as fluorescence in a lower-energy region of the spectrum, namely in the blue region (typically 420-470 nm). These additives are often used to enhance the appearance of the coloring of fabrics and papers, causing a "whitening" effect; they make intrinsically yellow or orange materials look less so, by compensating the deficit in blue and purple light reflected by the material, with the blue and purple optical emission of the fluorophore. Because these are synthetic compounds and, consequently, not naturally occurring, they make excellent markers for detecting leakage of wastewater into surface water as they are introduced into sewage from the detergents used in clothes washing. We propose to use these brighteners as markers of contamination in water.