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GROUNDWATER QUALITY IN THE CORTARO AREA NORTHWEST OF TUCSON, ARIZONA 1
Author(s) -
Schmidt Kenneth D.
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
jawra journal of the american water resources association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.957
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1752-1688
pISSN - 1093-474X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-1688.1973.tb01774.x
Subject(s) - effluent , sewage , environmental science , nitrate , irrigation , groundwater , water quality , hydrology (agriculture) , environmental engineering , chemistry , geology , ecology , organic chemistry , geotechnical engineering , biology
The Cortaro Area is currently the depository for much of the liquid waste from the City of Tucson. In the past, more than one‐half of the sewage effluent was used for crop irrigation. However, since 1970 virtually all of the sewage effluent has been percolated in the normally dry Santa Cruz River channel. Nitrate and chloride contents were monitored monthly in water samples from about 20 large‐capacity irrigation wells. Contents and seasonal trends for these constituents were closely related to the disposal of sewage effluent. Water quality problems other than nitrate include total dissolved solids, boron, coliform, and lead. High lead contents in the area appear to be a natural phenomenon and the coliform contents are likely related to poor well construction. The other quality problems are primarily due to sewage effluent.