Publisher © Czech Geological Survey, ISSN: 2336-5757 (online), 0514-8057 (print)
The occurrence of selenium in groundwater at the catchment of Suchomasty stream in the Bohemian Karst
Abstract
The Suchomasty village, located 35 km SW of Prague, is supplied by drinking water from a 25 m deep well with catchment formed by Ordovician to Devonian sedimentary rocks and vulcanites of the Prague Basin. The selenium concentrations have suddenly exceeded limit 10 |g/l since 2007 and peaked at 123 |g/l. Several possible selenium sources were studied in the well catchment: Paleozoic bedrock, ash from coal power stations used for arable soil improvement, selenium-accumulating plants used as manure and an old rubbish dump. Groundwater residence time was estimated using tritium and SF6. Dominating selenium source of contamination in potable water was found in abandoned rubbish dump.
