Identification of Priority Pollutants in Groundwater: A Case Study in Xiong’an New Region, China

Abstract

The pollution of man-made groundwater has become a major global problem that threatens human health and affects the aquatic environment. The establishment of an effective screening system for water pollution assessment is of great importance for maintaining the ecological health of groundwater. In this study, the concentrations of natural and non-natural pollutants in the groundwater of Xiong’an New Area were measured, and the degree of pollution degree and toxicity index of pollutants were used to construct a novel screening method. The result shows that it was more suitable to use the weighted summation method with weights of 0.5, 0.25, and 0.25 for toxicity, total pollution degree, and median pollution degree, respectively. According to the proposed screening method, Benzo[a]pyrene, Hexachlorobenzene, As, Se, Atrazine, Benzo[b]fluoranthene, Ni, Mo, Ti, and naphthalene were identified as the dominant pollutants in the study area and their levels should be strictly monitored.