Behavior of Gd-DTPA in simulated bank filtration

Research highlights: → Gd-DTPA and similar products are common pollutants in surface and groundwater and prove to be a reliable monitor for mixing of groundwater with surface water loaded with effluents from sewage treatment plants. → Within a 30 m column filled with Pleistocene sand Gd-DTPA is reduced by 16% only within one month time by transmetallation. → Artificial bank filtration is not very effective in reducing Gd-DTPA in infiltrating water. - Abstract: The behavior of Gd-DTPA during bank filtration was simulated in a 30 m column filled with Pleistocene sand and flushed by surface water from a lakeside in Berlin, Germany. The surface water is about a 1:1 mixture of river water and effluents from a sewage treatment plant. Throughout 34 days this water was continuously spiked with Gd-DTPA at a level of 60 μg/L. The broad plateau of the Gd-DTPA pulse declined by 15.4% within 34 days by transmetallation. Nine percentage of the total decline is caused by Y and rare earth elements; the remaining part is attributed to Cu2+ which is the most influential metal in surface water. All other metals also contributing to transmetallation are combined with Cu to Cu equivalents because only the rate constant of transmetallation of Cu2+ is known. The analytical results of the column effluents prove the pseudo-first-order kinetics of transmetallation based on reversible sorption of metals by pools in the column sediment and disprove biodegradation at noticeable levels. The mass ratio of water to tracer is <1010.