Apparent fate of recharged nonpurgeable chlorinated organics

Abstract

Secondary effluent from the Roger Road Wastewater Treatment Plant undergoes tertiary treatment of dual media filtration and chlorination. The tertiary effluent is recharged and subsequently extracted for irrigation in Tucson, Arizona. The fate of chlorinated organics in this recharge system was investigated in this research. Nonpurgeable organic carbon was found to reach a constant level in the groundwater after being recharged. Not all of the organic carbon was removed from the water. Nonpurgeable organic halogens increased as they flowed away from the recharge basins. Reasons for this increase were not determined. Attempts were made to define the apparent molecular weight distribution of the NPOC and the NPOX. Measured values of the two parameters were consistently greater after the analytical processing than before, making the determination impossible.