Effect of activities at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory on the water quality of the Snake River Plain aquifer in the Magic Valley study

Radiochemical and chemical constituents in wastewater
generated at facilities of the Idaho National Engineering
and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) (figure 1) have
been discharged to waste-disposal ponds and wells since
the early 1950 s. Public concern has been expressed that
some of these constituents could migrate through the
Snake River Plain aquifer to the Snake River in the Twin
Falls-Hagerman area Because of these concerns the
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) requested that the U.S.
Geological Survey (USGS) conduct three studies to gain a
greater understanding of the chemical quality of water in
the aquifer. One study described a one-time sampling
effort for radionuclides, trace elements, and organic
compounds in the eastern part of the A&B Irrigation
District in Minidoka County (Mann and Knobel, 1990).
Another ongoing study involves sampling for tritium from
19 springs on the north side of the Snake River in the
Twin Falls-Hagerman area (Mann, 1989; Mann and Low,
1994). A third study an ongoing annual sampling effort
in the area between the southern boundary of the INEEL
and Hagerman (figure 1) (hereafter referred to as the
Magic Valley study area), is being conducted with the
Idaho Department of Water Resources in cooperation with
the DOE. Data for a variety of radiochemical and
chemical constituents from this study have been published
by Wegner and Campbell (1991); Bartholomay, Edwards,
and Campbell (1992, 1993, 1994a, 1994b); and
Bartholomay, Williams, and Campbell (1995, 1996,
1997b). Data discussed in this fact sheet were taken from
these reports. An evaluation of data collected during the
first four years of this study (Bartholomay Williams, and
Campbell, 1997a) showed no pattern of water-quality
change for radionuclide data as concentrations randomly
increased or decreased. The inorganic constituent data
showed no statistical change between sample rounds.