Electrochemical generation of perchlorate ions in chlorinated drinking water

Abstract A scheduled, uncontrolled chemical monitoring program conducted by the Texas Rural Water Association during the spring of 2002 discovered perchlorate contamination in an elevated drinking water storage tank. The contaminated elevated storage tank (EST) was part of the Levelland, Texas municipal water distribution system. Subsequent investigations revealed that the most likely source of the perchlorate contamination was the impressed current corrosion protection system, which generated the perchlorate electrochemically in situ from the chlorinated drinking water stored in the tank. As a part of the authors' investigation into this phenomenon, batch scale laboratory experiments were designed and used to produce perchlorate ions in chlorinated tap water using an imposed electrical (direct current [DC]) current. This in situ generation process was found to follow an autocatalytic mechanism with respect to perchlorate ion concentration. Moreover, in parallel experiments, double-distilled water spiked ...