Discoloration and increased turbidity has been observed in the Manasquan watershed over the past years causing concerns about the quality of drinking water in Monmouth-Northern Ocean County, New Jersey.  During the summer months, the water exhibits a strong yellow discoloration which cannot be removed by conventional treatment methods at the Manasquan Water Treatment Plant. The New Jersey Water Supply Association (NJWSA) has been working to resolve this issue by trying to identify the geologic/urban source of the yellow coloration in the Manasquan River. Despite continuing efforts by the NJSWA, the Manasquan River still goes through increased turbidity and color problems on a seasonal basis. In this investigation, we determined that the discoloration of Manasquan waters was caused suspended particulate matter. Water samples collected from Yellow Brook contained colored particles greater than 1 nanometer in size. The particles were stable as dispersed colloids in the water. Flocculation and settling of the particulate matter was not observed, even over the time scale of years. We conducted a proof-of-concept study to assess the feasibility of several state-of-the-art microscopic and spectroscopic techniques to characterize the physical and chemical form of the suspended particles in the Yellow Brook sample. We successfully obtained nanometer and molecular-scale information of the particles using dynamic light scattering (DLS), X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), Scanning Transmission X-ray Microscopy (STXM), and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM).<br/>

Characterization of yellow-colored colloids in the Manasquan Watershed, NJ

2019 Spring National Meeting

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