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Anomalously High Nitrate Concentrations in Ground Water
Author(s) -
Guimerà Jordi
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
groundwater
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.84
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1745-6584
pISSN - 0017-467X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-6584.1998.tb01093.x
Subject(s) - aquifer , groundwater recharge , nitrate , groundwater , environmental science , irrigation , leaching (pedology) , hydrology (agriculture) , environmental engineering , geology , soil science , soil water , chemistry , geotechnical engineering , agronomy , organic chemistry , biology
Anomalously high nitrate concentrations are found in aquifers with agricultural lands in their recharge area, with restricted water outflows and with partially penetrating wells which induce ground water recirculation. A comprehensive methodology is proposed, which characterizes the source term ‐ nitrate leaching ‐ in time and space and couples it to the hydrodynamic characterization of the aquifer. The methodology is applied to a heavily polluted aquifer. Results show that poor management of irrigation and fertilization practices cannot be separated from unfavorable hydrodynamic conditions to explain concentrations as high as 160 mg/L NO 3 − N in ground water.