CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF WATER FROM

ASARCO TAILINGS PONDS

1971 and 1981

 Constituent

(mg/l)

 Pond No.

1

 

Pond No.

2

 

 Calcium

 

  530

 

552

615

760

 

 Magnesium

 

  <1

 

5

2

1

 

 Sodium

 

  190

 

163

166

240

 

 Potassium

 

49

 

70

-

72

 

 Carbonate

 

35

 

0

0

0

 

 Bicarb.

 

0

 

39

41

18

 

 Chloride

 

    43

 

26

38

32

 

 Sulfate

 

 1,600

 

1,558

1,745

2,400

 

 Nitrate .

 

    2  

 

2

<:1

2

 

 Flouride

 

 2.0

 

3.7

0.6

2.3

 

 Iron

 

   <0.08

     

0.05

 

 Manganese

 

   <0.04

 

-

-

0.08

 

 Arsenic

 

   <0.005

-

-

   <0.01

 

 Chromium

 

    <.04

 

-

-

 <0.01

 Selenium

 

 0.013

-

 

 <0.01

 Molybdenum

 

    1.9

    5.5

   16

     2.0

 

 Lead

 

-

 

-

-

    <0.01

 

 Copper

 

-

 

-

-

   0.01

 

 Zinc

 

-

 

-

-

   0.14

 

 Cadmium

 

-

 

-

-

 <0.01

 

 Boron

 

-

 

   0.4

-

    0.13

 

 Vanadium

 

-

 

-

-

 <0.1

 

 Electrical Conductivity

           

 (micromhos at 250C)

2,993

 

-

-

  3,351

 

 Total Dissolved Solids

3,500

 

-

2,629

  3,333

 

 Total Organic Carbon

7.8

 

-

-

6.7

 

 Field pH

 

-

 

-

-

5.5

 

 Lab pH

 

10.1

 

6.7

5.0

6.5

 

 Date

 

5/4/81

 

2/17/71

10/18/71

8/20/81

 

 Lab

 

U of A

 

ETL

ETL

BC Labs

 

1971 analyses from Engineers Testing Laboratory, Inc. (1973) and 1981 analyses from Thurnblad (1982).

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