Arsenic in streams, stream sediments, and ground water, Fairbanks area, Alaska

Arsenic concentrations of less than 5 ppb to as large as 1,260 ppb in stream waters and from 5 ppm to 4,000 ppm in stream sediments were found in the Pedro Dome-Cleary Summit area, Alaska. Waters from three of 20 wells sampled had arsenic concentrations exceeding the U.S. Public Health Service recommended limit of 50 ppb. The high arsenic levels are a consequence of arsenic enrichment in the rocks of the area. Placer and lode-gold mining may increase the arsenic content of the waters by exposing arsenic-containing rocks to surface waters and by increasing the load of arsenic-rich sediments in the streams. Finding these disturbingly large concentrations of arsenic in the waters of the Fairbanks area was the major result of this work, inasmuch as a subsequent study (to be published) revealed arsenic concentrations as large as 10 ppm in domestic wells and prompted an extensive study by Federal and State agencies of the health hazard posed by these arsenic-rich waters.