Authors:

Kaden Bowers

Date Created:

Not specified

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Professor:

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About Paper:

Lead service lines (LSLs) remain a widespread source of drinking water contamination yet replacing them is proven to be a challenge due to poor infrastructure records and costly identification methods. Current techniques involve excavating pipes to measure composition. Additional methods to identify lead using water testing do not differentiate between pipes, fittings, or connections made of lead. In this project, we propose using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) to detect buried LSLs non-invasively without excavations and minimizing disruption to residents. Unlike conventional XRF setups, we deploy a 140 kV X-ray tube directed into the ground with a cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) detector to capture K- shell lead fluorescence signals from the buried LSLs. However, soil causes significant signal attenuation and scattering, which greatly reduces the ability of our detector to get a signal deep in the soil. To address this, we investigated a series of spectral analysis and physical modifications such as beam collimation and noise filtering to reduce unnecessary signal detections. Our findings show that this technique greatly increases our detection depth below 12-15 inches which is well below buried depth of water service lines for most of the southeastern United States allowing for rapid, cost-effective detection of buried LSLs. Future efforts include further optimization of the system to extend our detection depth. Keywords: X-Ray Fluorescence; Lead; Non-Invasive Detection; Soil Attenuation; Instrument Optimization

Source:

Purdue University / 2025

Topics:

No topics listed

Co-authors:

Kaden Bowers