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Identification of groundwater nitrate sources in an urban aquifer (Alborz Province, Iran) using a multi-parameter approach

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Abstract

High concentrations of NO3̄ in water resources are detrimental to both human health and aquatic ecosystems. Identification of NO3̄ sources and biogeochemical processes is a crucial step in managing and controlling NO3̄ pollution. In this study, land use, hydrochemical data, dual stable isotopic ratios and Bayesian Stable Isotope Mixing Models (BSIMM) were integrated to identify NO3̄ sources and estimate their proportional contributions to the contamination of the Karaj Urban Aquifer (Iran). Elevated NO3̄ concentrations indicated a severe NO3̄ pollution, with 39 and 52% of groundwater (GW) samples displaying the concentrations of NO3̄ in exceedance of the World Health Organization (WHO) standard of 50 mg NO3̄ L−1 in the rainy and dry seasons, respectively. Dual stable isotopes inferred that urban sewage is the main NO3̄ source in the Karaj Plain. The diagram of NO3̄/Cl‾ versus Cl‾ confirmed that municipal sewage is the major source of NO3̄. Results also showed that biogeochemical nitrogen dynamics are mainly influenced by nitrification, while denitrification is minimal. The BSIMM model suggested that NO3̄ originated predominantly from urban sewage (78.2%), followed by soil organic nitrogen (12.2%), and chemical fertilizer (9.5%) in the dry season. In the wet season, the relative contributions of urban sewage, soil nitrogen and chemical fertilizer were 87.5, 6.7, and 5.5%, respectively. The sensitivity analysis for the BSIMM modeling indicates that the isotopic signatures of sewage had the major impact on the overall GW NO3̄ source apportionment. The findings provide important insights for local authorities to support effective and sustainable GW resources management in the Karaj Urban Aquifer. It also demonstrates that employing Bayesian models combined with multi-parameters can improve the accuracy of NO3̄ source identification.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Alborz Regional Water Authority for providing data about the Karaj alluvial aquifer.

Funding

The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, Faculty of Geology and Mines, Kabul Polytechnic University, District 5, Kabul, Afghanistan

    Abdulhalim Zaryab

  2. Department of Minerals and Groundwater Resources, Faculty of Earth Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Evin Ave, Tehran, Iran

    Farshad Alijani

  3. Department Catchment Hydrology Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research–UFZ, 06120, Halle, Germany

    Kay Knoeller

  4. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Dublin, Ireland

    Eddy Minet

  5. Kamiab Gostar Jonub Consulting Engineers, Golestan Ave., Ahvaz, Iran

    Seyedeh Fatemeh Musavi & Zohreh Ostadhashemi

Authors
  1. Abdulhalim Zaryab
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  2. Farshad Alijani
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  3. Kay Knoeller
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  4. Eddy Minet
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  5. Seyedeh Fatemeh Musavi
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  6. Zohreh Ostadhashemi
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Contributions

AZ: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Software, Formal analysis, Writing–original draft, Writing–reviewing & editing, Visualization. FA: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Formal analysis, Visualization, Validation, Supervision, Writing–reviewing & editing. KK: Conceptualization, Methodology, Resources, Isotopic analyses, Supervision, Validation, Writing–reviewing & editing. EM: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Writing–reviewing & editing. SFM: Conceptualization, Visualization, Methodology, Software, Writing–reviewing & editing. ZO: Conceptualization, Investigation, Resources, Writing–reviewing & editing.

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Correspondence to Farshad Alijani.

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Zaryab, A., Alijani, F., Knoeller, K. et al. Identification of groundwater nitrate sources in an urban aquifer (Alborz Province, Iran) using a multi-parameter approach. Environ Geochem Health 46, 100 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-024-01872-0

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