ABSTRACT
Groundwater pollution threatens human and ecosystem health in many regions around the globe. Fast flow to the groundwater through focused recharge is known to transmit short-lived pollutants into carbonate aquifers, endangering the quality of groundwaters where one quarter of the world's population lives. However, the large-scale impact of such focused recharge on groundwater quality remains poorly understood. Here, we apply a continental-scale model to quantify the risk of groundwater contamination by degradable pollutants through focused recharge in the carbonate rock regions of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. We show that focused recharge is the primary reason for widespread rapid transport of contaminants to the groundwater. Where it occurs, the concentration of pollutants in groundwater recharge that have not yet degraded increases from <1% to around 20 to 50% of their concentrations during infiltration. Assuming realistic application rates, our simulations show that degradable pollutants like glyphosate can exceed their permissible concentrations by 3 to 19 times when reaching the groundwater. Our results are supported by independent estimates of young water fractions at 78 carbonate rock springs over Europe and a dataset of observed glyphosate concentrations in the groundwater. They imply that in times of continuing and increasing industrial and agricultural productivity, focused recharge may result in an underestimated and widespread risk to usable groundwater volumes.
Subject(s)
Environmental Monitoring , Glycine/analogs & derivatives , Groundwater/chemistry , Models, Statistical , Water Pollutants, Chemical/isolation & purification , Africa, Northern , Computer Simulation , Europe , Glycine/isolation & purification , Humans , Middle East , Water Movements , Water Supply , GlyphosateABSTRACT
In Xynias drained Lake Basin's area, central Greece, a hydrogeochemical research took place including groundwater sampling from 30 sampling sites, chemical analysis, and statistical analysis. Groundwaters present Ca-Mg-HCO3 as the dominant hydrochemical type, while their majority is mixed waters with non-dominant ion. They are classified as moderately hard to hard and are characterized by oxidizing conditions. They are undersaturated with respect to gypsum, anhydrite, fluorite, siderite, and magnesite and oversaturated in respect to calcite, aragonite, and dolomite. Nitrate concentration ranges from 4.4 to 107.4 mg/L, meanwhile 13.3 % of the samples exceed the European Community (E.C.) drinking water permissible limit. The trace elements Fe, Ni, Cr, and Cd present values of 30, 80, 57, and 50 %, respectively, above the maximum permissible limit set by E.C. Accordingly, the majority of the groundwaters are considered unsuitable for drinking water needs. Sodium adsorption ratio values (0.04-3.98) and the electrical conductivity (227-1200 µS/cm) classify groundwaters as suitable for irrigation uses, presenting low risk and medium soil alkalization risk. Factor analysis shows that geogenic processes associated with the former lacustrine environment and anthropogenic influences with the use of fertilizers are the major factors that characterized the chemical composition of the groundwaters.
