Re: Perchlorate Behavior in a Municipal Lake Following Fireworks

My quick notes:

- Actually, the author DOES supply an email contact; out of respect for his privacy I will not publish it here but it is available in the posted doc.

- Wintersmith Lake is 108 acre-feet - pretty small as lakes go. To achieve a uniform concentration of 44ug of perchlorate would require just 5.7 kg of perchlorate. Since the measuring stations were so close to the ignition site, it's possible that the average concentration was smaller than 44ug. At any rate, it doesn't take much perchlorate to get the reported levels in that lake.

- As the author notes, perchlorate is eliminated by combustion. Why then is any perchlorate getting into the lake? Are these blind stars? Or does even complete combustion result in excess perchlorate? (Are typical pyro compositions rich in perchlorate, or stoichiometric?)


Kelly
.