Concentration of Uranium in Waters of the Biggest Lakes of the Tywa River Drainage Basin
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Journal of Ecological Engineering Volume 15, No. 3, July 2014, pp. 56–63 DOI: 10.12911/22998993.1109124 Research Article CONCENTRATION OF URANIUM IN WATERS OF THE BIGGEST LAKES OF THE TYWA RIVER DRAINAGE BASIN Jacek Kubiak1, Sylwia Machula1 1 Department of Hydrochemistry and Aquatic Biological Resources, West Pomeranian University of Techno- logy in Szczecin, Kazimierza Królewicza 4, 71-550 Szczecin, Poland, e-mail: [email protected]; smachula@ zut.edu.pl Received: 2014.03.10 ABSTRACT Accepted: 2014.06.06 The paper presents the results of research of uranium concentrations in its different Published: 2014.07.01 kinds – suspended and dissolved – in waters of the largest lakes located in the catch- ment area of the River Tywa – Strzeszowskie Lake, Dłużyna Lake, Długie Lake and Dłuzec Lake. Small (or the order of several 0,01 µg/l) variations in concentration of uranium in different lakes were noted. The study has also shown a seasonal variation – in a similar range – in concentrations of the above species of uranium, as well as total uranium. The content of dissolved uranium was highest in the autumn and winter, lower in the spring and summer. Overall, total uranium was found in greatest concen- trations during the fall, in other seasons concentrations were lower and similar to each other. Suspended uranium was found in largest concentrations in autumn and summer, in lower ones in spring and winter. Concentrations of the different species of uranium during the study period showed a small variation – variation coefficient below 10% for total uranium and dissolved uranium, and about 25% for suspended uranium. The observed concentrations of uranium were typical of uncontaminated unpolluted water. Keywords: Tywa River, Dłużec Lake, Długie Lake, Strzeszowskie Lake, Dołgie Lake, uranium, uranium concentration in water. INTRODUCTION AND RESEARCH in the range of 0.03–0.08 µg/l. In five Japanese OBJECTIVES cities, the mean level of uranium in drinkable wa- ter was 0.9 µg/l. However, there have been cases Uranium is a heavy metal, generally regarded of occurrence of uranium at much higher concen- by the public as rare – however, in the environ- trations, especially in small supplies. For example, ment it is in fact more common than such elements concentration of 700 µg/l was found in a small pri- as cadmium or selenium [Bowen 1979]. Uranium vate water supply in Canada. Research conducted occurs naturally in earth’s crust at concentrations in Finland in waters used to supply drinking wa- of approximately 4 ppm; such concentrations are ter to the populace, the median concentration was similar to those characteristic of arsenic, boron or found at the level of 28 µg/l. In a study of 476 other lanthanides, and an order higher than some Norwegian groundwater samples, 18% of them non-heavy metals, for example silver and mer- had uranium concentrations in excess of 20 μg/l. cury. Uranium is found in varying concentrations Concentrations in excess of 20 μg/l have also in all soils, rocks, minerals, as well as food and been found in groundwater in New Mexico, USA water (Kabata-Pendias, Kabata, 1999). and in central Australia [WHO 2011]. Tests of 3700 water samples collected in On- Uranium present in natural water reservoirs tario (Canada) in 1990–1995 showed the mean comes primarily from anthropogenic sources, uranium content was 0.05–4.21 µg/l, and in treat- such as: fertilization with phosphate fertilizers, ed potable water – 0.40 µg/l. Average uranium processing of apatites, production of construction concentration in drinking water in New York was materials (cement), manufacturing pigments for 56 Journal of Ecological Engineering vol. 15(3), 2014 glass and ceramics industry. The use of phosphate Tywa River – with a length of 47,9 km and fertilizers is a major source of anthropogenic ura- catchment area of 264,5 km ² – is a right tributary nium (fertilizers contain up to 390 mg of U/kg, of the East Oder. SNQ reliable flow calculated for depending on production technology, raw mate- the section of the mouth of the river is 0.71 m³/s. rials used and the fertilization dose applied) be- Tywa catchment area is located in the geograph- cause of high uranium content in phosphate ores ical terrain where the share of underground wa- (uranium in apatite: 30–120 mg/kg) [Zielinski et ter and lakes water recharge is estimated at more al. 1,997; Kratz and Schnug 2006]. Other anthro- than 60% of the total runoff. Average specific pogenic sources include uranium mining waste, runoff of the Tywa River in the years 1961–1985 burning of coal and petroleum products, emissions was 3,41 l/s/km² [Duda et al. 1991]. from nuclear power plants and military uses of ura- Lakes, especially in the middle section of nium. Also coal-fired power plants are one of its the river, are the dominant component (2.8%) significant sources in the environment, as coal and of the landscape of the Tywa River drainage ba- peat are characterized by high uranium content, of sin [Kępińska-Kasprzak et al. 1997, Duda et al. up to 200 mg/kg [Bowen 1979]. Sources of urani- 1991, Raczyńska 1999] – 30 lakes were counted um in the marine environment include atmospheric in the Tywa catchment area (18 with the surface precipitation of terrigenous material, as well as in- of less than 10 ha). Tywa runs through eight rib- land waters inflow [Skwarzec et al. 2002]. bon lakes; only 4 of them have the surface ex- ceeding 50 hectares – the series of lakes: Strz- eszowskie, Dołgie (Dłużyna), Długie (Swob- CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RESEARCH nickie) and Dłużec, where the present study was AREA conducted. The lakes are situated in the western part of the Myślibórz Lake District, within the Landscape of the Tywa River basin, as well as Chojna-Moryń Lake Group [Piskorski, 1979, the whole West Pomeranian Lakeland was shaped Kondracki 1994, 2000, Kubiak 2003]. The aqui- in the last Scandinavian glaciation, during glacier fers are located among forests, and are used for stagnation in the Pomeranian stage [Kondracki tourism and recreation purposes, as well as lake 2001]. Southern parts of the Tywa River drain- fishing. The lakes’ morphometric characteristics age basin are located in the Myślibórz Lake Dis- are presented in Table 1, while the uses of the trict; its northern parts belong to the Wełtyń Plain, catchment area are shown in Table 2. A detailed while the estuarine segment is located within the description of the general limnological and geo- Lower Oder Valley [Kępińska-Kasprzak et al. graphical characteristics is given by Kubiak et 1997, Raczyńska 1999, Kondracki 2001]. al. [2009, 2013]. Table 1. Morphometric characteristics of the studied lakes No Indicator Strzeszowskie Lake Dołgie Lake Swobnickie Lake Dłużec Lake 1 Latitude 52°59.6’ 53°00.5’ 53°03.7’ 53°07.3’ 2 Longitude 14°36.9’ 14°37.3’ 14°38.6’ 14°39.4’ 3 Maximum length (m) 1900 1850 3900 2400 4 Maximum width (m) 1150 450 1200 500 5 Average width (m) 670 304 882 355 6 Elongation ratio 1.6 4.1 3.2 4.8 7 Maximum effective length (m) 1900 1700 3900 2200 8 Maximum effective width (m) 1150 450 1200 600 9 Shoreline length (m) 5750 4350 9000 5875 10 Shoreline development index 1.44 1.64 1.37 1.79 11 Water table surface (ha) 127.2 56.3 344 85.2 12 Volume (thous. m3) 9499 1700 14485 5228 13 Maximum depth (m) 14.2 6.6 6.8 10.4 15 Average depth (m) 7.4 3.1 4.2 6.1 16 Depth indicator 0.52 0.47 0.62 0.58 57 Journal of Ecological Engineering vol. 15(3), 2014 Table 2. Uses of catchment areas of the studied lakes Lake Swobnica Dłużec Strzeszowskie Dłużyna Direct Total Direct Total Direct Total Direct Total drainage drainage drainage drainage drainage drainage drainage drainage Usage basin basin basin basin basin basin basin basin km² % km² % km² % km² % km² % km² % km² % km² % Forests 3.9 34.1 26.8 26.0 0.5 4.3 28.4 22.8 0.1 2.2 1.8 15.7 4.7 59.5 12.9 23.2 Grazing land - - 5.4 5.3 0.4 3.2 7.0 5.6 0.5 10.4 0.5 4.6 0.2 2.0 4.6 8.3 Waters 3.4 30.4 5.1 5.0 1.0 7.9 6.1 4.9 1.3 25.6 1.4 12.7 0.6 7.6 0.9 1.6 Arable land 3.8 33.3 62.7 60.9 9.5 79.5 79.1 63.4 2.6 52.6 6.8 60.8 2.4 29.9 36.1 65.2 Other 0.3 2.2 2.9 2.8 0.6 5.1 4.1 3.3 0.5 9.2 0.7 6.2 0.1 1.0 1.0 1.7 Total 11.3 100 102.9 100 12.0 100 124.7 100 5.0 100 11.3 100 7.9 100 55.4 100 The lakes Strzeszowskie, Dłużec near Banie as well as a limited number of available publi- and Dołgie are eumictic, periodically present- cations on the presence of uranium in the Polish ing tachymictic features, while the lake Długie lakes. The key objective of the present study was (Swobnickie) is polymictic. Oxygen systems in to determine the content of this metal in the wa- these lakes are proof of their high trophic index ters of the largest lakes in the Tywa River catch- [Kubiak et al.