Assessment of river water\u2013groundwater\u2013seawater interactions in the coastal delta of Bangladesh based on hydrochemistry and salinity distribution

Abstract

A synchronization study among hydrochemistry, hydrochemical facies evaluation, EC observation, salinity distribution and groundwater flow direction has been addressed to assess river water–groundwater–seawater interactions in the coastal delta of southern Bangladesh. The findings show that river water, shallow groundwater and deep groundwater interact with seawater at various intensities within the complex dynamics of hydrochemical facies evaluation. Deep groundwater is intensively influenced by seawater, where shallow groundwater is moderately affected and river water is very negligibly affected. Major cation and anion have been plotted in the Piper diagrams and hydrochemical facies diagrams (HFE-D) to clarify the result. More than 60% of the water samples of the river lie on the Ca-HCO3 (or Mg-HCO3) facies quadrant, and more than 70% of the shallow groundwater samples and more than 95% of the deep groundwater samples lie on the Na-Cl facies quadrant of the HFE-D diagram. River water types are dissimilar, and approximately 82% of facies are characterized by freshening phases and 18% by intrusion phases. Mixed water types with predominate of Na-Cl were observed in shallow groundwater where the hydrochemical facies are characterized by 53 percent freshening phases and 47 percent intrusion phases. Deep groundwater hydrochemistry clearly indicates the dominant Na-Cl type of water in the study area where only four hydrochemical facies are observed and 78 percent correspond to the intrusion phases and 22 percent to the freshening phases. Both direct and reverse cation exchange reactions take place in shallow groundwater, where deep groundwater is predominantly characterized by reverse cation exchange reactions. Two end members: seawater of Bay of Bengal and freshwater, contribute to the exchange reactions in the coastal aquifer of the study area. In terms of nitrate contamination, river waters are affected by negligible to low concentrations, shallow groundwater is affected by moderate to high concentrations and deep groundwater is affected by moderate to very high nitrate concentrations. Dissimilarity in electrical conductivity (EC) values, variation of salinity distribution maps and groundwater flow direction suggest the possible interconnections among river water, groundwater and aquifer sediments. Significant concentrations of Na+ and Cl− ions lead to seawater contamination in groundwater, and HCO3− along with Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+ in river water suggests mixing of freshwater and seawater, which could have adverse effects both in coastal delta aquatic life and in agriculture.