Kansas Geological Survey, Open-file Report 2005-34

Identification of Nitrate and Chloride Sources Affecting Municipal Well Waters of the City of McPherson, Kansas

by
M. A. Townsend and D. O. Whittemore

KGS Open File Report 2005-34
December 2005

Introduction

The City of McPherson, Kansas, requested the consulting firm Burns and McDonnell to investigate the cause of increasing nitrate-N concentration in several of the city wells. The City also asked the Kansas Geological Survey (KGS) to contribute to the study by identifying the sources of nitrate. The KGS used nitrogen-15 isotope analyses to determine the nitrate origin. In addition, the KGS used bromide and chloride analyses to identify sources of salinity as an additional means to trace the the nitrate origin.

The complete report is available as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file.

OFR2005_34b.pdf (1 MB, revised Feb. 22, 2006)

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Kansas Geological Survey, Geohydrology
Placed online Dec. 16, 2005
Comments to webadmin@kgs.ku.edu
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