title: A City-wide Investigation of the Isotopic Distribution and Source of Tap Waters for Forensic Human Geolocation Ground-truthing.
abstract: Human geolocation is prefaced on the accuracy of the geographic precision of mapped isotopic values for drinking water. As most people live in cities, it becomes important to understand city water supplies and how the isotopic values uniquely reflect that city. This study investigated the isotopic distribution of δ2H and δ18O from sourced tap waters that were collected from across the Metro Vancouver (MV) area (n = 135). The results revealed that the isotopic values reflect their water sources with a range of 5.3‰ for δ18Otapand 29.3‰ for δ2Htapfor MV. The results indicate that individual cities need higher resolution studies to determine their tap water isotopic ranges, and a good understanding of the water supply network itself for human geolocation work. With an extended high-resolution understanding of each city, human tissue may be compared with more certainty for geolocation.
authors.affiliation: School of Criminology, Centre for Forensic Research, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Dr., Burnaby, BC, V5A 1S6, Canada.
authors.forename: Momoko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ueda
authors.affiliation: School of Criminology, Centre for Forensic Research, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Dr., Burnaby, BC, V5A 1S6, Canada.
authors.forename: Lynne S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Bell
mesh_terms: D002170:Canada; D002947:Cities; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D006801:Humans; D006859:Hydrogen / Q000032:analysis*; D007554:Isotopes / Q000032:analysis; D010103:Oxygen Isotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D014861:Washington; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*; D014881:Water Supply
chemical_list: D007554:Isotopes; D010103:Oxygen Isotopes; D014867:Water; D006859:Hydrogen
keywords: city; forensic science; human geolocation; hydrogen; oxygen; stable isotopes; tap water; water source