New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts

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Field evaluation of fluorescent whitening agents and sodium tripolyphosphate as indicators of septic tank contamination in domestic wells

MURRAY E. CLOSE

LYNLEY R. HODGSON

GREG TOD

Geophysics Division
Department of Scientific and Industrial Research
P. O. Box 29-181, Christchurch, New Zealand

Abstract Two indicators of septic tank effluent were measured in a groundwater quality survey of an unsewered, semi-rural community. The selected indicators were fluorescent whitening agents and sodium tripolyphosphate (STP). Other water quality determinands indicated that the groundwater was of good chemical quality for drinking purposes but, in about half of the wells, levels of total coliform bacteria exceeded New Zealand Board of Health recommended guidelines for drinking water. Fluorescent whitening agents and/or STP were detected in 17% of the samples and concentrations of STP correlated significantly (P<0.001) with levels of faecal coliform bacteria. The study showed that the selected indicators could be detected in groundwater used for domestic purposes, and could be used for assessing whether septic tanks were implicated in contaminated domestic wells.

Keywords septic tank; fluorescent whitening agents; sodium tripolyphosphate; indicators; groundwater quality; domestic wells

New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 1989, Vol. 23: 563-568 0028-8330/2304-O563$2.50/0 © Crown copyright 1989 Received 19 October 1988; accepted 12 June 1989

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (437K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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