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Groundwater Sites Evaluated to Assess The Vulnerability of Public Supply Wells To Increasing Arsenic Concentrations In Southeastern Carson Valley, Douglas County, Nevada

Metadata Updated: July 6, 2024

Over the past 15 years Douglas County, NV has removed production wells in northern Carson Valley from use due to relatively high arsenic concentrations (Carl Ruschmeyer, January 2013, Douglas County Public Works Director, verbal communication). To maintain the supply of water to the public, the town of Minden has been providing water to Douglas County and Carson City. Due to the projected increases in municipal demand, water resource managers are concerned that increasing pumping rates from wells in Minden may change groundwater chemistry and degrade the resource by potentially drawing in arsenic enriched water. Long-term exposure to arsenic can cause illnesses ranging from skin discoloration to various cancers including those of the bladder, skin, and kidney (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2001). Naturally occurring arsenic is one of the most common contaminants in groundwater in the western United States. Arsenic found in basin-fill aquifers is oftentimes associated with alluvial/lacustrine sedimentary deposits derived from the weathering of volcanic rocks and geothermal waters (Welch and others, 1988). The primary aquifers beneath Carson Valley are comprised of quaternary aged basin-fill deposits of weathered granitic and volcanic material (Welch, 1994). Factors contributing to increasing arsenic concentrations in groundwater include, but are not limited to, proximity to arsenic bearing rocks, relatively long groundwater flow paths, the application of phosphate containing fertilizers, and leaching from soils in irrigated areas (Busbee and others, 2009; Anning and others, 2012). The vulnerability of groundwater resources to contamination is influenced by the physical properties of the aquifer, pumping rates, locations of wells and screened intervals relative to the groundwater flow system, and geochemical environment (Focazio and others, 2006). Arsenic mobility and transport through the subsurface is largely controlled by the interaction of groundwater with aquifer sediments. Arsenite (As(III)), the reduced form of inorganic arsenic, usually exhibits greater mobility in groundwater than the oxidized form, arsenate (As(V)) largely due to the greater attraction of As(V) to aquifer sediments relative to that of As(III) at pH values exceeding 8.5 (Smedley and Kinniburgh, 2002). Arsenic speciation (form) is influenced by the relative redox condition of the aquifer environment. For example, in the vicinity of the Douglas County Airport, where arsenic speciation has been characterized, arsenic in groundwater collected at depths greater than 250 feet below land surface was found to be primarily As(III); however, in the upper 150 feet of the aquifer As(V) predominated (Paul and others, 2010). This data set provides a spatial and temporal assessment of available chemical and physical data from local, county, state, and federal databases for the Carson Valley, near Minden, Nevada. Critical data gaps will be identified and, if necessary, additional sample collection and monitoring under conditions of routine groundwater pumping from both municipal and agricultural supply wells will be suggested. Data included as part of this data set, are data provided by the USGS and Carson Valley water purveyors with the support of the Carson Water Subconservancy District and Nevada Division of Environmental Protection to evaluate arsenic mobility and transport in Carson Valley. The data available and described in this release are groundwater water level observations and water chemistry for selected wells in the Carson Valley, Nevada. Cited reference information are available in the supplemental information field in the metadata file associated with this data release.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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Dates

Metadata Created Date June 1, 2023
Metadata Updated Date July 6, 2024

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI EDI

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date June 1, 2023
Metadata Updated Date July 6, 2024
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
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Identifier USGS:593572f1e4b06a58eb675576
Data Last Modified 20200824
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://datainventory.doi.gov/data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 871764d7-9e31-413d-bdf3-ccfcd56b9db0
Harvest Source Id 52bfcc16-6e15-478f-809a-b1bc76f1aeda
Harvest Source Title DOI EDI
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -119.87182617104,38.788004313892,-118.6575927726,39.040179801328
Publisher Hierarchy White House > U.S. Department of the Interior > U.S. Geological Survey
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 88f3aef95f140cd90c6c16d3022eaeba02b12c6c180db3d9e5a2f84392620fb2
Source Schema Version 1.1
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