Selenium in Reservoir Sediment from the Republican River Basin

Abstract

A reservoir integrates the quality of water in all the streams upstream from a reservoir. Reservoir sediment quality is an important environmental concern because sediment may act as both a sink and a source of water-quality constituents to the overlying water column and biota. Once in the food chain, sediment-derived constituents may pose an even greater concern due to bioaccumulation. An analysis of reservoir bottom sediment can provide historical information on sediment deposition as well as magnitudes and trends in constituents than may be related to changes in human activity in the basin. Results from these analyses can be used by resource managers to formulate and evaluate strategies to be implemented in the basin for remediation of excess sediment and chemical loadings to the reservoir. The assessment described in this fact sheet was initiated in 1997 by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Burean of Reclamation (BOR), U.S. Department of the Interior, to determine if irrigation activities have affected selenium concentrations in reservoir sediment of the Republican River Basin of Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska.

Additional information about Reservoir Sediment Studies in Kansas can be found at: http://ks.water.usgs.gov/studies/ressed/

Juracek, K.E., and Ziegler, A.C., 1999, Selenium in reservoir sediment from the Republican River Basin: Topeka, Kansas, HydroGRAMûQuarterly Journal of the Kansas Water Office, Spring 1999, p. 13-16.

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