In order to determine the amount of motor oil in mountain lakes that may contaminate our drinking water, a quick, easy, robust, cheap, and simple (QuEaRChS) method must be developed. This method will allow the determination of the amount of pollution in the lakes due to snowmelt that may be polluted by winter recreation in the area. This specifically is important as these lakes are drinking water sources for Salt Lake City. The simple method uses only fluorescence. It is already known that when oil is struck by a specific wavelength of ultra violet light, the oil glows. The glow intensity can be used to determine the concentration of the oil in the sample. Past research has developed a reliable method for analyzing laboratory created samples but further research is being done to expand the method to analyze real samples. Results that are currently being presented are from the analysis of snowmelt from the winter recreation season in Big Cottonwood Canyon, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Analysis of petroleum products in lakes of the Wasatch watershed, Salt Lake City, Utah

253rd National Meeting (2017)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.