Bryant C Jurgens
Groundwater is an important source of drinking water in the United States. In order to assess the status and long-term sustainability of this important resource, I use environmental tracers, geochemical modeling, and statistical methods to understand the age structure, geochemical processes, and trends affecting water-quality in aquifers.
Science and Products
Groundwater Age
The age of groundwater is key in predicting which contaminants it might contain. There are many tracers and techniques that allow us to estimate the age—or mix of ages—of the groundwater we depend on as a drinking water supply.
Hydrogeologic controls and geochemical indicators of groundwater movement in the Niles Cone and southern East Bay Plain groundwater subbasins, Alameda County, California
Beginning in the 1970s, Alameda County Water District began infiltrating imported water through ponds in repurposed gravel quarries at the Quarry Lakes Regional Park, in the Niles Cone groundwater subbasin, to recharge groundwater and to minimize intrusion of saline, San Francisco Bay water into freshwater aquifers. Hydraulic connection between...
Teague, Nicholas F.; Izbicki, John A.; Borchers, Jim; Kulongoski, Justin T.; Jurgens, Bryant C.
Tritium deposition in precipitation in the United States, 1953–2012
Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen (half-life is equal to 12.32 years). Since it is part of the water molecule, tritium can be used to track and date groundwater and surface water when the history of tritium in precipitation and recharge is known. To facilitate that effort, tritium concentrations in precipitation were reconstructed from...
Michel, Robert L.; Jurgens, Bryant C.; Young, Megan B.
Quantifying anthropogenic contributions to century-scale groundwater salinity changes, San Joaquin Valley, California, USA
Total dissolved solids (TDS) concentrations in groundwater tapped for beneficial uses (drinking water, irrigation, freshwater industrial) have increased on average by about 100 mg/L over the last 100 years in the San Joaquin Valley, California (SJV). During this period land use in the SJV changed from natural vegetation and dryland agriculture to...
Hansen, Jeffrey; Jurgens, Bryant; Fram, Miranda S. Regional variability of nitrate fluxes in the unsaturated zone and groundwater, Wisconsin, USA
Process-based modeling of regional NO3− fluxes to groundwater is critical for understanding and managing water quality, but the complexity of NO3− reactive transport processes make implementation a challenge. This study introduces a regional vertical flux method (VFM) for efficient estimation of reactive transport of NO3− in the vadose zone and...
Green, Christopher T.; Liao, Lixia; Nolan, Bernard T.; Juckem, Paul F.; Shope, Christopher L.; Tesoriero, Anthony J.; Jurgens, Bryant Radium mobility and the age of groundwater in public-drinking-water supplies from the Cambrian-Ordovician aquifer system, north-central USA
High radium (Ra) concentrations in potable portions of the Cambrian-Ordovician (C-O) aquifer system were investigated using water-quality data and environmental tracers (3H, 3Hetrit, SF6, 14C and 4Herad) of groundwater age from 80 public-supply wells (PSWs). Groundwater ages were estimated by calibration of tracers to lumped...
Stackelberg, Paul E.; Szabo, Zoltan; Jurgens, Bryant C. Methane in aquifers used for public supply in the United States
In 2013 to 2015, 833 public supply wells in 15 Principal aquifers in the U.S. were sampled to identify which aquifers contained high methane concentrations (>1 mg/L) and determine the geologic, hydrologic, and geochemical conditions associated with high concentrations. This study represents the first national assessment of methane in...
McMahon, Peter B.; Belitz, Kenneth; Barlow, Jeannie R. B.; Jurgens, Bryant Fraction of young water as an indicator of aquifer vulnerability along two regional flow paths in the Mississippi embayment aquifer system, southeastern USA
Wells along two regional flow paths were sampled to characterize changes in water quality and the vulnerability to contamination of the Memphis aquifer across a range of hydrologic and land-use conditions in the southeastern United States. The flow paths begin in the aquifer outcrop area and end at public supply wells in the confined parts of the...
Kingsbury, James A.; Barlow, Jeannie R. B.; Jurgens, Bryant; McMahon, Peter B.; Carmichael, John K. A hybrid machine learning model to predict and visualize nitrate concentration throughout the Central Valley aquifer, California, USA
Intense demand for water in the Central Valley of California and related increases in groundwater nitrate concentration threaten the sustainability of the groundwater resource. To assess contamination risk in the region, we developed a hybrid, non-linear, machine learning model within a statistical learning framework to predict nitrate...
Ransom, Katherine M.; Nolan, Bernard T.; Traum, Jonathan A.; Faunt, Claudia C.; Bell, Andrew M.; Gronberg, Jo Ann M.; Wheeler, David C.; Zamora, Celia; Jurgens, Bryant; Schwarz, Gregory E.; Belitz, Kenneth; Eberts, Sandra M.; Kourakos, George; Harter, Thomas Methane and benzene in drinking-water wells overlying the Eagle Ford, Fayetteville, and Haynesville Shale hydrocarbon production areas
Water wells (n = 116) overlying the Eagle Ford, Fayetteville, and Haynesville Shale hydrocarbon production areas were sampled for chemical, isotopic, and groundwater-age tracers to investigate the occurrence and sources of selected hydrocarbons in groundwater. Methane isotopes and hydrocarbon gas compositions indicate most of the methane in the...
McMahon, Peter B.; Barlow, Jeannie R. B.; Engle, Mark A.; Belitz, Kenneth; Ging, Patricia B.; Hunt, Andrew G.; Jurgens, Bryant; Kharaka, Yousif K.; Tollett, Roland W.; Kresse, Timothy M. Using groundwater age distributions to understand changes in methyl tert-butyl ether (MtBE) concentrations in ambient groundwater, northeastern United States
Temporal changes in methyl tert-butyl ether (MtBE) concentrations in groundwater were evaluated in the northeastern United States, an area of the nation with widespread low-level detections of MtBE based on a national survey of wells selected to represent ambient conditions. MtBE use in the U.S. peaked in 1999 and was largely discontinued by 2007...
Lindsey, Bruce D.; Ayotte, Joseph D.; Jurgens, Bryant; DeSimone, Leslie A. Large decadal-scale changes in uranium and bicarbonate in groundwater of the irrigated western U.S
Samples collected about one decade apart from 1105 wells from across the U.S. were compiled to assess whether uranium concentrations in the arid climate are linked to changing bicarbonate concentrations in the irrigated western U.S. Uranium concentrations in groundwater were high in the arid climate in the western U.S, where uranium sources are...
Burow, Karen R.; Belitz, Kenneth; Dubrovsky, Neil M.; Jurgens, Bryant C.
Potential corrosivity of untreated groundwater in the United States
Corrosive groundwater, if untreated, can dissolve lead and other metals from pipes and other components in water distribution systems. Two indicators of potential corrosivity—the Langelier Saturation Index (LSI) and the Potential to Promote Galvanic Corrosion (PPGC)—were used to identify which areas in the United States might be more susceptible...
Belitz, Kenneth; Jurgens, Bryant C.; Johnson, Tyler D.
Domestic groundwater wells in the eastern and southeastern U.S. at risk of lead contamination
About one-third of more than 8,300 wells tested across the U.S. had groundwater with chemical characteristics that could cause lead, if present in plumbing, to leach into tap water at levels above the EPA Action Level, according to a new study by the U.S. Geological Survey National Water Quality Program. These...