Abstract
Confined groundwater is important for the domestic water supply in arid and semiarid regions that have salty phreatic water. A systematic investigation was conducted in the Wuyi region, a typical central area of the North China Plain (NCP), regarding the confined groundwater geochemistry. A total of 59 samples were collected from confined aquifers across the region for in situ parameter determination and laboratory analysis. The results showed the confined groundwater was neutral to slightly alkaline, and dominantly soft fresh. The moderately hard brackish water and very hard brackish water accounted for 1.69% and 6.78% of the total samples, respectively. The hydro-chemical faces are mainly SO4·Cl–Na type with a few of the HCO3–Na type. The entropy-weighted water quality index assessment demonstrated that 21.3% of the groundwater samples came under the medium to extremely poor quality, and were unsuitable for drinking purposes due to the high content of major ions. Various populations are at a chronic health risk at some local sites by high levels of F- and Fe in groundwater, with susceptibility in the order of adult females < adult males < children < infants. The poor groundwater quality and health threats result from the natural water–rock interactions (including mineral dissolution and cation exchange) rather than anthropogenic inputs. This research can provide references for groundwater resource development and management in the NCP and other similar regions worldwide.
Highlights
Groundwater serves as the dominant or even only source of water for potable usage in many regions all over the world, especially in semiarid and arid regions, due to the scarcity of precipitation and surface water [1,2]
Most of the sampled groundwater was within the pH limits of
Groundwater had a wide range of electrical conductivity (EC) values, which varied from 718 μS/cm to 3750 μS/cm, averaging at 1274 μS/cm
Summary
Groundwater serves as the dominant or even only source of water for potable usage in many regions all over the world, especially in semiarid and arid regions, due to the scarcity of precipitation and surface water [1,2]. The availability of groundwater has been recognized to have profound impacts on approximately one third of the world’s population [3,4,5,6]. The element enrichments in groundwater result from human society, and natural circumstances have depleted groundwater quality, which greatly hampers the. Water 2020, 12, 3052 availability of groundwater for domestic usage [9]. It is urgent to conduct a comprehensive study on groundwater chemistry and exploitation to ensure the quality and safety of groundwater for anthropogenic usage [10,11]. The North China Plain (NCP) is one of the most typical regions where groundwater plays a significant role in domestic usage, and in industrial and agricultural practices [6,12,13]
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