Presenters: Kate Hickman
Authors: Kate Hickman, Clayton Rawson
Faculty Advisor: Eddy Cadet
Institution: Utah Valley University
Utah Lake is surrounded by many anthropogenic sources of trace metal (TM) pollution. Sources and activities which can potentially affect lake water quality and sediment contamination include industry, wastewater treatment plants (WWTP), agriculture, mining operations, and recent and established urban development. The purpose of this study is to assess the concentrations of TM in upland and wetland sediment as they relate to land-use type around the Lake. Triplicates were collected for water, upland sediment, and wetland sediment at eight different sites reflecting the aforementioned land-use types. Sediment samples were dried and ground, acid digested in the microwave accelerated reaction system (MARS), then analyzed in the ICP-MS for TM content (As, Cd, Cu, Pb, Cr, and Zn). In addition to MARS and ICP-MS testing, water samples were tested for pH, electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen, and oxidation-reduction potential using a multimeter to understand the behavior of TMs in the samples. Preliminary results show that TM concentrations were higher in upland sediment than wetland sediment in Agriculture and Mid-development areas. Inverse trends were observed for New Development, Industry, and WWTP. The concentration of Cd exceeded background levels (ranging from .567 ppm to 1.34 ppm) in all land uses for both upland and wetland sediment, and was highest in agricultural upland sediment (1.34 ppm) as compared to wetland sediment (1.16 ppm). Cr levels were almost twice as high in upland sediment (42.2 ppm) compared to wetland sediment (23.4 ppm). The concentration of Cu, Zn, Cd, Cr, and Pb were elevated in wetland sediment as compared to upland sediment. The elevated concentration of TMs in wetland and upland sediment indicates that Agriculture and Mid-Development land uses, which are currently not monitored, play a significant role in the contamination of Utah Lake and surrounding areas.