Title
Demonstrating trend reversal of groundwater quality in relation to time of recharge determined by 3H/3He
Author
Visser, A.
Broers, H.P.
van der Grift, B.
Bierkens, M.F.P.
TNO Bouw en Ondergrond
Publication year
2007
Abstract
Recent EU legislation is directed to reverse the upward trends in the concentrations of agricultural pollutants in groundwater. However, uncertainty of the groundwater travel time towards the screens of the groundwater quality monitoring networks complicates the demonstration of trend reversal. We investigated whether trend reversal can be demonstrated by relating concentrations of pollutants in groundwater to the time of recharge, instead of the time of sampling. To do so, we used the travel time to monitoring screens in sandy agricultural areas in the Netherlands, determined by 3H/3He groundwater dating. We observed that concentrations of conservative pollutants increased in groundwater recharged before 1985 and decreased after 1990. Thereby, we demonstrated trend reversal of groundwater quality. From this research we concluded that 3H/3He dating can be used to facilitate (re)interpretation of existing groundwater quality data. The presented approach is widely applicable in areas with unconsolidated granular aquifers and large agricultural pressures on groundwater resources. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Subject
Geosciences
3H/3He
Groundwater age
Groundwater quality
Monitoring
Nitrate
Trends
Agricultural wastes
Helium
Nitrates
Water pollution
Water quality
Groundwater age
Groundwater quality
Quality monitoring networks
Recharging (underground waters)
ground water
helium
helium 3
nitrate
tritium
agricultural land
European Union
groundwater
groundwater pollution
helium isotope
hydrogen isotope
legislation
nitrate
pollution monitoring
recharge
water quality
water resource
age determination
agricultural waste
aquifer
article
European Union
law
Netherlands
trend study
water analysis
water contamination
water pollutant
water quality
water sampling
Benelux
Eurasia
Europe
Netherlands
Western Europe
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TNO identifier
240109
ISSN
0269-7491
Source
Environmental Pollution, 148 (3), 797-807
Document type
article