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Atmospheric Deposition and Roof-Catchment Cistern Water Quality¹

ABSTRACT

The water quality in 40 roof-catchment cistern systems in rural Clarion and Indiana Counties, Pa. was studied to determine the impact of atmospheric deposition. Roof-catchment cisterns are open to atmospheric contaminants such as the toxic metals Pb and Cd, and corrosive acid components present in acid precipitation.

Bulk precipitation samples failed to meet the drinking water standard for Pb on several occasions and were consistently quite corrosive. Mean Pb, Cd, and Cu concentrations were well below drinking water limits for all cistern water samples. Cistern water was corrosive in all but a few cases, as indicated by the Langelier saturation index, although not as corrosive as the bulk precipitation due to the dissolution of CaCO₃ from cistern walls and floors. Vinyl-lined cisterns contained water nearly as corrosive as the incoming precipitation.

Seventy percent of the systems on one or more occasions exhibited cistern bottom sediment/water Pb or Cd concentrations that exceeded the drinking water limits. This indicated that metals deposited on roof catchments were accumulating at the bottom of the cisterns. Standing tap water samples exhibited high Pb and Cu concentrations. Nine of the forty systems studied produced standing tap water Pb concentrations that averaged above the drinking water standard. The mean Pb, Cd, and Cu concentrations of running tap water samples all fell below the drinking water standards. Atmospheric deposition of Pb and its infusion into tap water as a corrosion product pose a significant health threat to users of roof-catchment cistern systems in western Pennsylvania.

Key Words: acid precipitation • groundwater pollution • corrosion • heavy metals • toxic metals • drinking water standards • Langelier saturation index

¹ The study which this report summarizes was conducted in Clarion and Indiana Counties, Pa. from 1979 through 1981 and was supported through Title V of The Rural Development Act.

² Research Assistant and Assistant Professor of Forest Resour. Ext., School of For. Resour. and the Inst. for Res. on Land and Water Resour., The Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA 16802, respectively.

Received for publication May 3, 1982.