[CPEO-MEF] Perchlorate from fireworks

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Fireworks shower perchlorate into water bodies
Perchlorate levels in a lake in Oklahoma rose significantly after 
fireworks displays but eventually returned to normal.

Rhittu Chatterjee
Environmental Science & Technology
May 2, 2007

Fireworks spiraling into the night sky bring cheer and warmth to people 
watching from below. They also deliver significant levels of perchlorate 
into nearby water bodies, according to new research published today on 
ES&T's Research ASAP website (DOI: es0700698).
Potassium perchlorate, one of the key ingredients of fireworks 
contributes copious amounts of perchlorate to nearby water bodies.

Scientists have long suspected that fireworks contribute to perchlorate 
contamination, but few studies have "directly examined" that connection, 
says study leader Richard Wilkin, an environmental geochemist at the 
U.S. EPA's National Risk Management Research Laboratory. This paper 
takes the research a step further and definitively links fireworks 
displays to surface water contamination. But the perchlorate levels 
don't last: Wilkin and his team also found that the contaminant's 
concentrations fell to background levels after 1–2 months, possibly 
because of microbial degradation.

...

For the entire article and a link to the original study, see
http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/esthag-w/2007/may/science/rc_fireworks.html?sa_campaign=rss/cen_mag/estnews/2007-05-02/rc_fireworks

--


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org


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