Hydrogeology Of An Unconfined Sand Aquifer And Its Effect On The Behavior Of Nitrogen From A Large-Flux Septic System

Abstract

Detailed monitoring of groundwater in a shallow sand aquifer impacted by a large-flux septic system showed that water quality in the shallow water table zone below the tile bed was similar to that of smaller-flux septic systems in similar hydrologic settings where effluent residency in the unsaturated zone was of similar duration. During residency of about one week in the 4-m thick unsaturated zone, effluent NH+ 4 was largely oxidized to NO− 3, about 75% of DOC was biodegraded, and acidity produced by the above reactions was neutralized by dissolution of calcite. Beneath the tile bed and extending laterally downgradient a distance of 80 m to the Lake Erie shoreline, a distinct plume of impacted groundwater was easily distinguished by elevated levels of electrical conductance, Cl−, NO− 3, HCO− 3, NA+, Ca2+, and K+ and by depressed levels of pH and dissolved oxygen. High NO− 3 levels that occur below the tile bed disappear, however, in the anaerobic plume core zone 10 to 70 m downgradient, apparently as a result of denitrification. The rich reserve of solid-phase organic carbon in the aquifer sediment (2.5%) probably provides much of the organic carbon for heterotrophic denitrification. This condition is in contrast to other septic system plumes in sand aquifers where high NO− 3 levels persist and where aquifer organic carbon values are much lower. Although NO− 3 is attenuated in the plume core, persistence of NO− 3 along the aerobic upper fringe of the plume demonstrates the ability of septic systems to cause significant water-quality degradation of sand aquifers when the conditions favorable for denitrification do not exist. The sharp boundary between the plume water and non-impacted water adjacent to and overlying the plume in the area 50 to 100 m downgradient from the tile bed, and the undiluted nature of non-reactive solutes such as Cl− throughout the core of the plume, demonstrates that dispersion has only a weak influence on the plume. This is consistent with dispersion studies in many other sand aquifers.