Abstract
Nitrates are one of the most common groundwater contaminants and they come from different sources. The paper presents a study of groundwater quality at Varaždin wellfield in the north part of Croatia. The nitrate concentration at this location has been above the maximum allowed concentration for several decades, which has made the opening of new wellfields costly. Based on the previously developed groundwater flow model, a model that covers the narrow area of the wellfield is developed. The influential zone of the observed wellfield in working conditions is determined. Based on the developed model, the sources of nitrate pollution are located, which can be generally divided into non-point and point sources. Considering the time of groundwater retention in the horizontal flow, it is concluded that the water protection zones are marked following the applicable ordinance. Based on the developed groundwater flow model at the observed wellfield, a simulation of nitrate pollution propagation by advection and dispersion processes is performed. The simulation results point out the location of the poultry landfill as the largest source of nitrate pollution. However, poultry farms, which are located in the influence area of the wellfield, also contribute significantly to the nitrate concentration at the wellfield.
Highlights
Quality water supply is one of the necessary preconditions for sustainable development, but in the last few decades, due to more frequent and intensive anthropogenic sources, negative impacts on water supply systems have occurred
The scientific contribution of this research is based on the fact that teraction with statistical methods, with knowledge or good approximation of input pausing numerical models of groundwater flow and pollution propagation in interaction with rameters, point sources of nitrate pollution in the influential wellfield zone can be located statistical methods, with knowledge or good approximation of input parameters, point and quantified
Consideringthe thetime time groundwater retention in the horizontal it is concluded the water protection zones are determined according to the applicable national regulations
Summary
Quality water supply is one of the necessary preconditions for sustainable development, but in the last few decades, due to more frequent and intensive anthropogenic sources, negative impacts on water supply systems have occurred. With the growth of the human population and the increase in the quality of life, the need for drinking water has been growing, so it was estimated that global water consumption has been increased seven times since the beginning of the. For sustainable development and further improvement of the quality of life, the protection of groundwater as the main source of drinking water should be one of the main global priorities. Agricultural production is recognized worldwide as one of the main sources of groundwater pollution; primarily because nitrates are an important component of mineral fertilizers. Several studies have shown that the application of fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture significantly increases nitrate concentrations in surface and groundwater [2,3,4,5]
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