The prevention and detection of human error in ecological stable isotope analysis

Seasonal variation in tap water δ2H and δ18O isotopes reveals two tap water worlds

Stable isotope ratios of hydrogen and oxygen (δ²H and δ¹⁸O) in tap water provide important insights into the way that people interact with and manage the hydrological cycle. Understanding how these interactions vary through space and time allows for the management of these resources to be improved, and for isotope data to be useful in other disciplines. The seasonal variation of δ²H and δ¹⁸O in tap water within South Africa was assessed to identify municipalities that are supplied by seasonally invariant sources that have long residence periods, such as groundwater, and those supplied by sources that vary seasonally in a manner consistent with evapoconcentration, such as surface water—the proposed two tap water “worlds”. Doing so allows for the cost-effective spatial interpolation of δ²H and δ¹⁸O values that likely reflect that of groundwater, removing the residual error introduced by other sources that are dependent on discrete, isolated factors that cannot be spatially generalised. Applying the proposed disaggregation may also allow for the efficient identification of municipalities that are dependent on highly variable or depleted surface water resources, which are more likely to be vulnerable to climate and demographic changes.