Effects of Coal Fly-Ash Disposal on Water Quality in and Around the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Indiana

摘要

Dissolved constituents in seepage from fly-ash settling ponds bordering part of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (the Lakeshore) have increased trace elements, and gross alpha and gross beta radioactivity in ground water and surface water downgradient from the settling ponds. Data suggest that concentrations of some dissolved trace elements may be greater beneath interdunal pond 2 than in the pond. The soil system downgradient from the settling ponds seems to have affected the concentrations of dissolved ions in the settling-pond seepage. Calcium concentrations were greater in ground water downgradient from the settling ponds than in the ponds. Where organic material was present downgradient from the settling ponds, concentrations of arsenic, fluoride, molybdenum, potassium, sulfate, and strontium were greater in the ground water than in the ponds. In contrast, the concentrations of cadmium, copper, nickel, aluminum, cobalt, lead, and zinc were less.