Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID NV_2023_UNLV-Sun

Applying Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) to Study the Concentration Variation of Heavy Metals in Lake Mead Due to Climate Change and Population Growth in Southern Nevada

Institute: Nevada
Year Established: 2023 Start Date: 2023-09-01 End Date: 0000-00-00
Total Federal Funds: $35,790 Total Non-Federal Funds: $98,870

Principal Investigators: Zaijing Sun

Project Summary: Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) is a multi-element analytical technique for both qualitative and quantitative analysis of isotopes. It is a sensitive nuclear technique and easily lift the detection limits from ppm to ppb level, which is especially suitable for analyzing trace amount of heavy metals in water. Due to climate change and population growth in Southern Nevada, the concentrations of heavy metals in Lake Mead vary from season to season and increase slowly for the same season due to the continuous megadrought recently. In this study, we propose to use INAA to study the concentration variations of heavy metals in Lake Mead, which is responsible for 90% of the water need of Las Vegas. The variation of these concentrations also an indicator of climate change in the Colorado River Basin. The data collected will serve as a baseline for further studies in the future.