ORGANIC COMPOUNDS IN THE CARRIZO-WILCOX AQUIFER OF EAST TEXAS AND POSSIBLE HEALTH IMPLICATIONS

Long-term exposure to low levels of organic substances leached from low rank coal aquifers has been hypothesized to be linked to kidney disease and urinary system cancers (Panendemic Nephropathy). This link has been most firmly established in the case of Balkan Endemic Nephropathy (BEN), a fatal kidney disease with associated renal/pelvic cancer that occurs in restricted areas of the Balkans where Pliocene lignites deposits are present. In northwestern Louisiana, where lignites underlie a region having an elevated incidence of renal pelvic cancers, recent studies have shown that a suite of coal-derived organic substances occur in drinking water supplies, resembling those observed in drinking water supplies from areas impacted by BEN. To determine if such a situation exists in East Texas, where coals similar to those in Louisiana are present, samples of well water, municipal tap water, and bottled water derived from the Carrizo-Wilcox aquifer were collected, in counties (Wood and Hopkins) with relatively high incidences of renal/pelvic cancer. Dichloromethane extractable organic compounds in the water samples were identified by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Compounds present in the Carrizo-Wilcox samples included some substituted polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (mostly lower molecular weight), heterocyclic and substituted substituted aromatics, phenols, terpenoids, and aliphatic hydrocarbons at sub-microgram/liter levels. This suite of organic compounds is similar to those observed in other coal containing aquifers. Nearly all samples contained significant levels of phthalates, manmade plasticizers that are ubiquitous in the environment, and could also be derived from plastic piping or other plastics. Several samples contained significant amounts of herbicides (atrazine, metolachlor, other triazines), indicating probable contamination from surface water infiltration.