UC launches new study of drinking water

Associate Professor Reza Soltanian is leading a project to study toxins in groundwater. Photo/Andrew Higley/UC Marketing + Brand

In particular, they want to know more about forever chemicals, known by the acronym PFAS.

"We're close enough to get surface water mixing with groundwater. Surface water is impacted by nutrients and agricultural runoff. But groundwater is also affected by those same things," Associate Professor of Geosciences Reza Soltanian said.

Researchers met this spring at the wooded observatory with scientists from the Pacific National Laboratory while work crews dug additional wells for the new study.

Bundled up against the cold, UC Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences Annette Rowe is also taking part. Among other topics in her biology lab, she studies environmental microbiology and water quality.

Students used pumps to collect water samples from the wells on site. Researchers said they were pleased that the samples they took corresponded to a coincidental period when the river flood level was up so they could record these unique observations.

"The groundwater is defined by its geological architecture," Soltanian said. "As the water table comes up you get mixing to various degrees based on the porosity."

Assistant Professor Annette Rowe studies applied and environmental microbiology in her lab. Photo/Andrew Higley/UC Marketing + Brand

Researchers look at the oxygen saturation in the water compared to the levels of oxygen-consuming organic matter. Knowing this "redox" condition allows researchers to understand how microorganisms in the aquifer's sediments consume carbon and alter the chemistry of the environment; a process that can impact the release of toxic chemicals into the drinking water, particularly in the substrate beneath the aquifer.

"When you look at groundwater, you have to make a lot of inferences," Rowe said.

But UC's project will allow researchers to study chemicals at locations throughout the aquifer using sophisticated equipment such as mass spectroscopy at the Department of Energy's Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory.

Soltanian said climate change is leading to worse and more frequent flooding, which makes the study all the more pressing in understanding its impact on water quality for the people who depend on it.

Featured image at top: Workers dig a new monitoring well. Researchers in biology and geosciences launched a new project to study toxins in drinking water using UC's groundwater observatory. Photo/Andrew Higley/UC Marketing + Brand.

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