Evaluation of Groundwater Suitability for Irrigation and Drinking Purposes in an Agricultural Region of the North China Plain

Haipeng Guo,Juyan Zhu,Lu Wang,Muzi Li,Xiaobing Zhao,Haigang Wang,Yunlong Wang,Xisheng Zang

doi:10.3390/w13233426

Haipeng Guo, Juyan Zhu + Show 6 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/w13233426

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Journal: Water	Publication Date: Dec 3, 2021
Citations: 16	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: China Institute of Geological Environmental Monitoring

Abstract

Groundwater is an irreplaceable resource for irrigation and drinking in the North China Plain, and the quality of groundwater is of great importance to human health and social development. In this study, using the information from 59 groups of groundwater samples, groundwater quality conditions for irrigation and drinking purposes in an agricultural region of the North China Plain were analyzed. The groundwater belongs to a Quaternary loose rock pore water aquifer. The depths of shallow groundwater wells are 20–150 m below the surface, while the depths of deep groundwater wells are 150–650 m. The sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), sodium percentage (%Na), residual sodium carbonate (RSC), magnesium hazard (MH), permotic index (PI) and electrical conductivity (EC) were selected as indexes to evaluate the shallow groundwater suitability for irrigation. What’s more, the deep groundwater suitability for drinking was assessed and the human health risk of excessive chemicals in groundwater was studied. Results revealed that SAR, Na% and RSC indexes indicated the applicability of shallow groundwater for agricultural irrigation in the study area. We found 57.1% of the shallow groundwater samples were located in high salinity with a low sodium hazard zone. The concentrations of fluorine (F−) in 79.0% of the deep groundwater samples and iodine (I−) in 21.1% of the deep groundwater samples exceeded the permissible limits, respectively. The total hazard quotient (HQ) values of fluorine in over half of the deep groundwater samples exceeded the safety limits, and the health risk degree was ranked from high to low as children, adult females and adult males. In addition to natural factors, the soil layer compression caused by groundwater over-exploitation increased the fluorine concentration in groundwater. Effective measures are needed to reduce the fluorine content of the groundwater of the study area.

Highlights

The depths of shallow groundwater wells are 20–150 m below the surface, while the depths of deep groundwater wells are 150–650 m
The total hardness (TH) value in shallow groundwater is over 27 times the value in deep groundwater, probably due to the salinity and mineral dissolution in aquifers under the influence of climate, precipitation, evaporation, topography and human activity [7]
The main conclusions are as follows: Hydrochemical analysis revealed that groundwater in the study area was generally in an alkaline environment

Summary

Introduction

With the development of society, groundwater plays an increasingly important role in agricultural irrigation and domestic drinking [1,2]. The shallow groundwater is often developed for irrigation in agricultural areas with the advantages of a low well-forming cost and being easy to obtain. Groundwater quality and hydrochemical characteristics have been under the increased influence of pollution in an area of intense agricultural activities [5]. The pollutants pass through the soil and unsaturated zones and penetrate the aquifer, causing groundwater quality deterioration [6]. Sodium concentration in groundwater is important because sodium reacts with soil to reduce its permeability and the hydraulic conductivity declines, causing soil with poor internal drainage [11,12]

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Conclusion