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Groundwater hydrochemical signatures, nitrate sources, and potential health risks in a typical karst catchment of North China using hydrochemistry and multiple stable isotopes

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Abstract

Nitrate pollution in aquatic ecosystems has received growing concern, particularly in fragile karst basins. In this study, hydrochemical compositions, multiple stable isotopes (δ2H–H2O, δ18Ο–Η2Ο, δ15Ν–ΝΟ3−, and δ18Ο–ΝΟ3−), and Bayesian stable isotope mixing model (MixSIAR) were applied to elucidate nitrate pollution sources in groundwater of the Yangzhuang Basin. The Durov diagram identified the dominant groundwater chemical face as Ca–HCO3 type. The NO3− concentration ranged from 10.89 to 90.45 mg/L (average 47.34 mg/L), showing an increasing trend from the upstream forest and grassland to the downstream agricultural dominant area. It is worth noting that 47.2% of groundwater samples exceeded the NO3− threshold value of 50 mg/L for drinking water recommended by the World Health Organization. The relationship between NO3−/Cl− and Cl− ratios suggested that most groundwater samples were located in nitrate mixed endmember from agricultural input, soil organic nitrogen, and manure & sewage. The Self-Organizing Map (SOM) and Pearson correlations analysis further indicated that the application of calcium fertilizer, sodium fertilizer, and livestock and poultry excrement in farmland elevated NO3− level in groundwater. The output results of the MixSIAR model showed that the primary sources of NO3− in groundwater were soil organic nitrogen (55.3%), followed by chemical fertilizers (28.5%), sewage & manure (12.7%), and atmospheric deposition (3.4%). Microbial nitrification was a dominant nitrogen conversion pathway elevating NO3− levels in groundwater, while the denitrification can be neglectable across the study area. The human health risk assessment (HHRA) model identified that about 88.9%, 77.8%, 72.2%, and 50.0% of groundwater samples posing nitrate's non-carcinogenic health hazards (HQ > 1) through oral intake for infants, children, females, and males, respectively. The findings of this study can offer useful biogeochemical information on nitrogen pollution in karst groundwater to support sustainable groundwater management in similar human-affected karst regions.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2020YFD0900703); the Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (KYCX23_0737) and the Anhui Provincial Natural Science Foundation (2208085US09). Special thanks to the editor and anonymous reviewers for their critical comments and valuable suggestions in the present form.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Agricultural Science and Engineering, Hohai University, No. 8 Focheng West Road, Nanjing, 211100, Jiangsu, China

    Shou Wang, Jing Chen, Shuxuan Zhang, Xiaoyan Zhang & Dan Chen

  2. Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute, State Key Laboratory of Hydrology Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering, Nanjing, 210029, China

    Yanjie Bai

  3. Center for Agricultural Resources Research, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of CAS, Shijiazhuang, 050021, Hebei, China

    Jiahong Hu

Authors
  1. Shou Wang
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  2. Jing Chen
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  3. Shuxuan Zhang
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  4. Yanjie Bai
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  5. Xiaoyan Zhang
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  6. Dan Chen
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  7. Jiahong Hu
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Contributions

Shou Wang: Investigation, Sample collection, Data curation, Writing-original draft, Conceptualization. Jing Chen: Resources, Supervision, Funding acquisition, Project administration. Shuxuan Zhang: Writing-original draft, Methodology, Software, Investigation, Sample collection. Yanjie Bai: Software, Visualization. Xiaoyan Zhang: Investigation, Sample collection. Dan Chen: Investigation. Jiahong Hu: Data collection, Formal analysis. All authors read and approved the final draft.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jing Chen.

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Wang, S., Chen, J., Zhang, S. et al. Groundwater hydrochemical signatures, nitrate sources, and potential health risks in a typical karst catchment of North China using hydrochemistry and multiple stable isotopes. Environ Geochem Health 46, 173 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-024-01964-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-024-01964-x

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