This year's National Water Week drove the agenda of ‘Water for AIl', an objective that SRK Consulting has supported in many ways - one of which has been through its application of isotope technology. Ismail Mahomed. principal hydro-geologist at SRK Consulting has recently used isotopes to identify the source of water contamination, as a first step in resolving this threat to water security. South Africa is classified as a semi-arid country, emphasised Mahomed, and cannot afford its scarce water resources being polluted.
In a recent address to the Network for Industrially Contaminated Land (Nicola) conference, he explained how isotope technologies had proved a valuable and cost-effective means to help resolve a contamination issue at a metals processing plant.
Fingerprinting
“A particular environment will acquire a characteristic isotopic composition or signature by virtue of the hydrogeochemical processes involved," he said. “We can use this isotope signature for "fingerprinting" — giving us clues to trace the water source, and hence the source of contamination."
In his case study, he explained how spatial variations in deuterium and Oxygen-18 occur in the hydrological cycle — leading to a lower proportion of these isotopes in rain that falls inland than in rain falling at the coast.
