Various types of inorganic and organic colloids are present in natural water including groundwater. Previous studies showed that Fe, Mn and Al are colloid-forming elements and dissolved concentrations can be erroneous for these elements if water samples are not properly filtered. Dissolved concentrations of elements including Ca, Na, Mg, K, Fe, Mn, Si and Al in groundwater from alluvial and bedrock aquifers, and surface water near Nakdong River were determined to evaluate effects of colloids on dissolved concentrations in natural water samples using various pore sizes of filters. Groundwater is mostly anoxic and have elevated concentrations of Fe and Mn, which provides a unique opportunity to observe the effects of colloids on dissolved concentrations of colloid-forming elements. Membrane filters with four kinds of pore sizes of 1000 nm, 450 nm, 100 nm, and 15 nm were used for filtration of water samples. Concentrations of dissolved concentrations in each filtrate did not show significant differences from 1000 nm to 100 nm. However, concentrations of all elements considered were decreased in the filtrates obtained using 15 nm pore size filters by 10 to 15% compared to those using 450 nm except for bedrock groundwater. Al in surface water showed a distinct linear decrease with the decrease of filter pore sizes. These results showed that 100 nm pore size had little effect to remove colloidal particles in alluvial groundwater and surface water in our study. In contrast, significant concentration decreases in 15 nm pore size filtrates indicate that the presence of 15 to 100 nm colloidal particles may affect determination of dissolved concentrations of elements in natural water.

Keywords: Alluvial groundwater;Suspended particles;Dissolved constituents;Colloids;filtration;