Groundwater Degradation Research Articles

A hydrological–economic model for sustainable groundwater use in sparse-data drylands: Application to the Amtoudi Oasis in southern Morocco, northern Sahara

A hydrological–economic model is introduced to describe the dynamics of groundwater-dependent economics (agriculture and tourism) for sustainable use in sparse-data drylands. The Amtoudi Oasis, a remote area in southern Morocco, in the northern Sahara attractive for tourism and with evidence of groundwater degradation, was chosen to show the model operation. Governing system variables were identified and put into action through System Dynamics (SD) modeling causal diagrams to program basic formulations into a model having two modules coupled by the nexus ‘pumping’: (1) the hydrological module represents the net groundwater balance (G) dynamics; and (2) the economic module reproduces the variation in the consumers of water, both the population and tourists. The model was operated under similar influx of tourists and different scenarios of water availability, such as the wet 2009–2010 and the average 2010–2011 hydrological years. The rise in international tourism is identified as the main driving force reducing emigration and introducing new social habits in the population, in particular concerning water consumption. Urban water allotment (PU) was doubled for less than a 100-inhabitant net increase in recent decades. The water allocation for agriculture (PI), the largest consumer of water, had remained constant for decades. Despite that the 2-year monitoring period is not long enough to draw long-term conclusions, groundwater imbalance was reflected by net aquifer recharge (R) less than PI+PU (G<0) in the average year 2010–2011, with net lateral inflow from adjacent Cambrian formations being the largest recharge component. R is expected to be much less than PI+PU in recurrent dry spells. Some low-technology actions are tentatively proposed to mitigate groundwater degradation, such as: wastewater capture, treatment, and reuse for irrigation; storm-water harvesting for irrigation; and active maintenance of the irrigation system to improve its efficiency.

The Heavy Metals in Agrosystems and Impact on Health and Quality of Life

The metal is a chemical element that conducts electricity well and heat, and the nonferrous metals builds cations and ionic bonds. Heavy metals include metals whose density is higher than 5 g/cm3. The whole range of the metal is in the form of essential trace elements, essential for a number of functions in the human body, and its deficiency results in a lack of occurrence of a serious symptom. The best examples are anemia lack of iron, lack of chromium in diabetes, growth problems in lack of nickel. Other elements such as lead, cadmium, mercury, arsenic and molybdenum have been shown to exhibit large quantities of toxic effects. The paper examines the problem of heavy metals originating from agriculture on agroecosystems. This group of pollutants is considered the most important cause of degradation of soil quality, surface and groundwater and direct causal adverse effects on human and animal health. In order to complete the environmental monitoring of pollutants, these main categories, origins, and possible negative impacts of the basic principles of preventing their toxic effects were examined.

Sustainable groundwater management in Lagos, Nigeria: the regulatory framework

This doctoral research focuses on groundwater degradation in Lagos, Nigeria. Groundwater is a fundamental natural resource in Lagos that is presently troubled by pollution emanating from solid waste and wastewater. The city generates 10,000 metric tons of waste and 350 million gallons of wastewater daily, all of which are improperly managed and are heavily polluting its groundwater. This direct environmental pollution is aggravated by indirect problems of over-urbanization, and legal and institutional shortcomings. Over-urbanization in Lagos has resulted into a monumental population of 21 million people in the tiny city, which generates the enormous quantities of solid waste and wastewater. The population places a tremendous burden on the city’s water resources, forcing residents to revert to groundwater which is suffering the plight of pollution, and hence the concern of this research. The pollution problem is worsened by civic apathy to environmental matters, and unresolved by a nascent water sector whose evolving governance structures do not adequately address the multi-dimensional pollution problem. In the final analysis, the absence of holistic and comprehensive groundwater legislation that addresses all these problems challenges the sustainability of this vital resource. The research study contributes to knowledge by attempting to provide broad and holistic recommendations for law reform which address the pollution, management of the effects of over-urbanization and overpopulation on groundwater, and the strengthening of institutions to achieve a sustainable groundwater resource.

Need of crop diversification to achieve sustainable agriculture in Punjab: a brief review

The agrarian economy of Punjab witnessed a significant growth since the mid 1960s due to the success of Green Revolution. The increased profitability of paddy and wheat crops, due to adoption of advanced technology and supportive government, directed farmers to shift substantial area under these crops, which have led to a situation of monoculture of paddy-wheat in the State. While the rapid growth in rice and wheat production yielded high dividends, it was realized during late 1980’s that gains may not be sustainable. Currently, there is a growing concern about the sustainability of Rice Wheat Cropping System (RWCS), as the growth rates of rice and wheat yields are either stagnating or declining. The sustainability of agricultural production is basically based on the optimal and sustainable use of natural resources, such as land and water. In lieu of earning high profits, farmers as well as public policy aiming at votes are ignoring the degradation of crucial resources, particularly groundwater, soil, human-health, etc. The degradation of groundwater has increased the cost of production manifolds. The study concluded the realization of need to shift from monoculture to diversified cropping pattern to achieve sustainable agriculture.

Status of ground water quality in selected shallow aquifers of Saharsa district, the Kosi megafan, the North Bihar Plains

Water is one of the most indispensable resource and the elixir of life. Ground water is one of the major source of drinking water in India and therefore, it plays a vital role in human health. Generally, ground water is extracted through hand pump in Saharsa district (The Kosi megafan, The North Bihar Plains). Geogenic and anthropogenic activities are the two factors responsible for the quality degradation of ground water. Excessive ground water extraction for agriculture, industries and domestic utilization, made it liable to deterioration. Keeping these considerations, a study was conducted to evaluate the physio-chemical properties viz., pH, EC, turbidity, hardness, alkalinity, TDS, chloride, fluoride, nitrate, sulphate and iron of water samples obtained from the 10 blocks namely Sattarkatiya, Saurbazar, Kahra, Pattarghat, Navhatta, Banma Ithari, Salkhua, Mahishi, Simri-Bakhtiyarpur and Sonbarsa and the urban region (city part) of Saharsa district, Bihar. Among the various parameters, iron and fluoride content in some locations were found surpassing the permissible limit. The parameters were analyzed and compared with the standards values as prescribed by American Public Health Association (APHA), World Health Organization (WHO), Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). General recommendation as the permissible limits for iron is 0.3–1 mg/L and fluoride is 1.0–1.5 mg/L. However, status of iron and fluoride in the study area were found in the range of 0.3–4.1 mg/L and 0.2–1.5 mg/L respectively, which shows that there is a requirement of holistic approach to improve the quality of ground water.

Groundwater quality determination regarding major anions and cations (Case study of an aquifer in the Lut Desert, Iran)

Groundwater quality regarding major anions and cations in the Birjand Plain located in the largest desert in Eastern Iran was monitored in this study. Fifteen boreholes were considered as sampling stations and the parameters pH, TDS, EC and major anions and cations were measured in groundwater samples. The dominant groundwater types can be introduced as sodium-chloride and magnesium-sulphate. The majority of samples were within the not-suitable category for drinking uses. Regarding agricultural use, around 80 and 50 per cent of samples indicated a very high salinity hazard and a very high sodium alkali hazard, respectively. Spatial distribution of salinity was also monitored within the study area. If the study area was considered to be a semicircle, the centre appeared to be the least polluted area, while towards the peripheral surroundings, an increasing behaviour was observed. Intrusion of salt water from eastern and western parts of the study area caused severe groundwater degradation. The relatively better quality of groundwater in southern areas may be attributed to a chain of mountains located along south of the study area. The prevention of uncontrolled groundwater withdrawal must be regarded to cease the salinization trend and to prepare the required infrastructure for implementing the artificial recharge projects.

Evaluating Groundwater Pollution Using Hydrochemical Data: Case Study (Al Wahat Area East of Libya)

Water is one of the most challenging current and future natural resources, which will directly affect the environment and development by the changes in its quantity, quality and regional distribution. However, Water quality is the critical factor that influences human health and irrigation proposer. This work aims to investigate hydrochemical analysis and geochemical processes influencing the groundwater of Al Wahat area (Jalou, Awjla and Jukherra), which is located in central east Libya. Thirty four water samples collected from domestic and agricultural water wells were analyzed and used for conventional classification techniques which were Piper, Durov and Stiff diagrams to evaluate geochemical processes. Cluster analysis was used to identify the water type and ions concentration and distribution. Results show significant increase of dissolved salts, especially Nitrates. Elevated nitrates concentration can be attributed to either the disposal of untreated sewage water from disposal ponds and septic tanks or the infiltration of irrigation water saturated with fertilizing chemicals. Therefore, irrigation wells revealed that suffering from nitrate contamination caused an increase of the chance of nitrate pollution. In addition, contour maps present a sudden increase in the total dissolved salts (TDS) in the northeastern part coincident with the highest of secondary ions of NO3 content, indicating the infiltration of irrigation water which is responsible partially for the groundwater degradation. Hydrogeochemical facie is NaCl type and enrichment of Na+ and Cl- can be attributed to urban untreated wastewaters and high rate of evapotranspiration. The concentrations of heavy elements such as Zn, Pb, Cu, Cd, Ni and Cr were low and within the WHO ranges.

The Effect of Degradation of Groundwater Resources On Capital of Pistachio Growers in Kerman Province

Real cost evaluation of water is necessary in agricultural products depending on obtained value by this input. In most areas of world especially in arid and semiarid areas, exist over pumping of ground water because the real value of water is much most than the costs of water supply and the lack of fit management water resources. In this study, using a sample of 110 farmers, water dealing value of over using of groundwater in Rafsanjan pistachio production area were investigated. Analysis and regression methods were used in this regard. The average determined value obtained 24 cents, for each share of water in this region which with over drafting of ground water, and decreasing quality and quantity of water has had significant relationship in the one percent significance level. Finally, for elimination or reduction of ground water degradation and its effects, this paper recommended in addition to reduction of licenses for ground water pumping. Determination of optimal economic water/land ratio in new and old pistachio producing areas is the other proposal of this research for alleviation groundwater over drafting effects. Permission for water conduction between wells and combination of fresh and saline water and also using desalination systems are methods for solving low quality of ground water.

Modeling the impacts of dryland agricultural reclamation on groundwater resources in Northern Egypt using sparse data

Summary Demand for freshwater in many dryland environments is exerting negative impacts on the quality and availability of groundwater resources, particularly in areas where demand is high due to irrigation or industrial water requirements to support dryland agricultural reclamation. Often however, information available to diagnose the drivers of groundwater degradation and assess management options through modeling is sparse, particularly in low and middle-income countries. This study presents an approach for generating transient groundwater model inputs to assess the long-term impacts of dryland agricultural land reclamation on groundwater resources in a highly data-sparse context. The approach was applied to the area of Wadi El Natrun in Northern Egypt, where dryland reclamation and the associated water use has been aggressive since the 1960s. Statistical distributions of water use information were constructed from a variety of sparse field and literature estimates and then combined with remote sensing data in spatio-temporal infilling model to produce the groundwater model inputs of well-pumping and surface recharge. An ensemble of groundwater model inputs were generated and used in a 3D groundwater flow (MODFLOW) of Wadi El Natrun’s multi-layer aquifer system to analyze trends in water levels and water budgets over time. Validation of results against monitoring records, and model performance statistics demonstrated that despite the extremely sparse data, the approach used in this study was capable of simulating the cumulative impacts of agricultural land reclamation reasonably well. The uncertainty associated with the groundwater model itself was greater than that associated with the ensemble of well-pumping and surface recharge estimates. Water budget analysis of the groundwater model output revealed that groundwater recharge has not changed significantly over time, while pumping has. As a result of these trends, groundwater was estimated to be in a deficit of approximately 24 billion m3 (±15%) in 2011, compared to 1957. A significant trend in water level declines beginning in the 1990s that has been observed in monitoring records was evident in the model results and is directly attributed to abstraction.

Effects of an intensive hog farming operation on groundwater in east Mediterranean (II): a study on K⁺, Na⁺, Cl ⁻, PO₄³⁻-P, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Fe³⁺/Fe²⁺, Mn²⁺, Cu²⁺, Zn²⁺ and Ni²⁺.

The application of treated animal wastewater generated in concentrated animal feeding operations on surface soil (within farm borders) leads to degradation of groundwater. Effects of an intensive hog farming operation, located at a Mediterranean limestone soil coastal area, on groundwater were investigated. Treated animal wastewater was discharged on a small plot (~10.8 ha) with a geologic fault. Samples were taken from seven groundwater monitoring wells close to the farm. A significant increase of K(+), Na(+), Cl(-), PO4 (3-)-P, Ca(2+) and Mg(2+) concentrations was found in monitoring wells which are affected by the subsurface flow of groundwater. Concentrations of Fe(3+)/Fe(2+), Mn(2+), Cu(2+), Zn(2+) and Ni(2+) in all groundwater monitoring wells were extremely low. During the winter, significant increases in concentrations of K(+) and PO4 (3-)-P were noted and attributed to high precipitation, which assisted in the leaching of K and P to groundwater.

CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE AVAILABILITY OF WATER RESOURCES IN BENIN

It is likely that climate change in the coming decades, even very few, will produce more important impacts on thesocio-economic systems than in the past, due to the growth in world population and the increasing sophistication of technology and development issues (Issa, 1995). According to UNESCO (2006), climate change will be responsible for 20% of the worsening water scarcity in the world. This looming water crisis will be induced by changes in the parameters that determine the water cycle (Totin, 2005). The study is based on analysis of a baseline from which the main meteorological parameters (rainfall, flow, etc.) are projected to 2025 time horizon. It corresponds to the horizon of the prospective study for 2025 in Benin. From these basic parameters, the main elements to characterize water resources (such as infiltration, the volume of water available water bodies, etc.) were determined for each time horizon. Research carried out in different regions of the Benin on climate issues, surface and ground water (Gbatcho 1992; Boko, 1998; Boukari, 1998 Linsoussi, 2000; Sadji, 2004; Amoussou, 2003 and 2005; Totin, 2003 and 2005; Tossa, 2005; Vissin et al., 2006 ; Vissin, 2001 and 2007 ; Alassane and Boukari, 2007; Idieti, 2009 ; Totin, 2009) attest ruptures occurred in hydro-climatic chronicles during the 1970s and indicate a downward trend in superficial water resource two to four folds greater than that of rainfall in key watersheds. Similarly, the aquifers record deficit on refill aquifers (Boukari, 1998; Totin, 2005) and a variation of hydro-chemical caracteristics (Alassane, 2004). If this climate and hydrological trend continues, hydrological drought will lead to a considerable reduction of water resources and a potential shortage. Similarly, the water quality will be affected in various ways. Very wet weather events would induce an increased transfer of pollutants to the water bodies as opposed to dryness that would accentuate deterioration especially of the bacteriological quality of water resources. Facing to the quantitative and qualitative degradation of both surface and groundwater should develop strategies to increase the potential availability of the resource. To this end, it is important above all to protect areas of groundwater recharge, stabilize stream banks and water bodies. Improving the quality of water resources in a changing climate context implies that people are aware of the risks of shortage and of agricultural good practices (no use of chemical fertilizers and synthetic pesticides), management of solid and liquid waste. The water law must be adapted to the context of climate change and vulnerability of the water resource.

Social Investment for Sustainability of Groundwater: A Revealed Preference Approach

Groundwater is a form of natural capital that is valued for the goods it provides, including ecosystem health, water quality, and water consumption. Degradation of groundwater could be alleviated through social investment such as for water reuse and desalination to reduce the need for withdrawals from groundwater. This paper develops a participatory planning process—based on combining revealed preference with economic optimization—to choose a desired future for sustaining groundwater. Generation of potential groundwater futures is based on an optimal control model with investment and withdrawal from groundwater as control variables. In this model, groundwater stock and aquatic health are included as inter-temporal public goods. The social discount rate expressing time preference—an important parameter that drives optimization—is revealed through the participatory planning process. To implement the chosen future, a new method of inter-temporal pricing is presented to finance investment and supply costs. Furthermore, it is shown that the desired social outcome could be achieved by a form of privatization in which the pricing method, the appropriate discount rate, and the planning period are contractually specified.

The Vulnerability Level of Groundwater Quality Degradation in The Ecosystem of Sand Dune Landscape on the Southern Coast of Central Java and the Yogyakarta Special Region, Indonesia

The sand dune ecosystem phenomenon in the research area has unique and interesting characters. It is identified that there is an increase in the construction of the environment in the use of sand dune ecosystem which influence the groundwater quality. Such phenomenon is the manifestation of the existence of spatial dynamics influencing the groundwater degradation vulnerability. This research is aimed at 1) predicting the level of groundwater quality degradation vulnerability based on the sand dune ecosystem spatial dynamics; 2) developing an environmental management model to continuously maintain the availability of groundwater. The research employed survey research and inductive mapping. The aspect of the study included an environmental study with hydromorphological and hydrogeological approach. Analysis and evaluation were based on the multiplication of weight and rate, and were done on landscape units resulting from the map overlay. The research result indicates that there are 4 (four) classes of groundwater degradation vulnerability out of the 5 (five) classes of vulnerability determined beforehand. Groundwater degradation vulnerability classes III and IV indicate problems of disturbances in the groundwater supply system and domestic and agricultural waste pollution. In order to overcome the disturbances in the groundwater supply system, water infiltration well should be constructed, communal domestic water processing should be encouraged, and in order to reduce pollution from the use of agricultural fertilizers, the fertilizers should be blended with clay.

Effects of an intensive hog farming operation on groundwater in east Mediterranean (I): a study on electrical conductivity, as well as nitrogen and sulfur nutrients.

The discharge of treated animal wastewater produced in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) on surface soil (within CAFOs borders) leads to groundwater degradation. In this research, groundwater degradation effects of an intensive hog farming operation, located in a Mediterranean area, were investigated. Treated animal wastewater was discharged on a small plot (~10.8 ha) with a geologic fault. Groundwater samples were taken from seven groundwater monitoring wells close to the farm. These wells were affected by the subsurface flow of waters, due to the presence of the geologic fault. In the summer, a significant increase of electrical conductivity values was noted in and attributed to falling water table levels. During the winter, significant increases in concentrations of ammonium nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, and sulfate were noted and attributed to high precipitation, which assisted in the leaching of nitrogen and sulfur to groundwater.

Variability of drainage and solute leaching in heterogeneous urban vegetation environs

Abstract. Deep percolation enhancement from recycled wastewater irrigation may contribute to salt accumulation and water table elevation that can ultimately cause soil and ground water degradation. Variation of drainage rate and solute leaching were investigated in an urban park containing heterogeneous landscape plants that were irrigated with recycled wastewater. Field monitoring was undertaken at Veale Gardens in the Adelaide Parklands, Australia. Based on landscape variation in Veale Gardens, two landscape zones were defined: one being largely covered with turf grasses with few trees and shrubs (MG) with the second zone being mostly trees and shrubs with intermittent turf grasses (MT). Experiments were performed on two zero-tension lysimeters placed horizontally 100 cm below ground to monitor the variation of volume and quality indicators of drained water for four seasons. The outcomes showed a significant variation of drainage quantity and quality in the MT and MG zones. The low vegetation cover in the MG zone resulted in more drained water than in the high vegetation cover (MT zone). In both zones, more drainage water was collected in winter than in other seasons. This is in spite of the input water showing a maximum rate in summer. The seasonal salinities measured in the two lysimeters showed very similar trends with the lowest salinity rate in autumn with the levels increasing through winter and spring. Chemical analyses of leachate solute and salt loading indicated no impact from using recycled wastewater.

Soil type, crop and irrigation technique affect nitrogen leaching to groundwater

Many groundwater resource in California are degraded by high concentrations of nitrate, most of which was transported to the groundwater in water percolating below the root zone of agricultural fields. Factors that affect the rate of water percolation — including soil type, crop and irrigation — along with nitrogen application influence the probability of this type of groundwater degradation. UC scientists have developed several useful tools, including the Nitrogen Hazard Index (NHI) and the ENVIRO-GRO (E-G) model, for use in developing best management practices (BMPs) to achieve high crop yields while minimizing groundwater degradation. We report the results of E-G simulations that quantify the effects of irrigation, soil type and organic and inorganic nitrogen (N) application amounts to corn yield and the amount of leached N. Simulation results indicate that a nitrate management strategy that also includes water management will be more effective in reducing N loading to groundwater. The research findings are discussed in the context of the track and report concept in comparison to the BMP approach.

A management framework for the efficient use of surface water resources in Sithonia Peninsula (Greece)

The Peninsula of Sithonia is one of many typical regions in Greece in which overexploitation of local aquifers has led to several serious problems related to quantity and quality degradation of groundwater reserves. In this paper, a management plan is presented that aims at the utilization of the so far unexploited surface water resources of the area in order to restore the degraded aquifers and to supplement the groundwater supplies, mostly for domestic use. To this end the total municipal water demand and the potential of surface waters are first estimated at both the local and regional levels. Next, four alternative management schemes are examined, each one consisting of a different number of reservoirs. A preliminary evaluation of these water supply alternatives, that concludes the paper, is based on both operational and economic factors in order to facilitate a future multi-criterion decisionmaking analysis.

Erratum to: Groundwater management based on GIS techniques, chemical indicators and vulnerability to seawater intrusion modelling: application to the Mahdia–Ksour Essaf aquifer, Tunisia

In arid and semi-arid countries worldwide, conflicts between human development activities and conservation of groundwater resources are widespread and attract many public debates. This research aims to propose groundwater management alternatives for a coastal aquifer by studying its vulnerability and in particularly the risk of seawater intrusion. An additional objective is to propose some agricultural policies aimed to conserve groundwater resources in Mahdia and Ksour Essaf. Intensive groundwater mining, for irrigation and for water drinking, has caused an overexploitation of the water resources. In addition, the degradation of water quality, caused by septic tanks and intensive agricultural activities, has given rise to notable crucial state of the groundwater resources. With the aim of tackling the groundwater degradation problem, integration into a common platform of vulnerability assessment, seawater intrusion modelling and hydrochemical analysis is proposed. This platform can considerably reflect the water resources state in order to propose some solutions reducing the contamination of the Mahdia–Ksour Essaf aquifer. The groundwater management alternatives, proposed in this study, were prepared within a geographical information system.

OECD의 무대응 비용 관점에서 지하수 등 자연환경 재해의 간접사용가치 및 비사용가치 손상 비용 분석

OECD(2008)는 무대응 비용(inaction cost의 개념을 제시하여 사용가치와 관련된 직접 금전비용, 간접효과를 포함한 총 금전비용, 무형의 가치를 포함한 총 사용비용, 비사용가치를 포함한 총 사회적 복지비용을 제시하였다. 본 연구에서는 이를 환경재의 가치 손상 비용으로 접근하여 지하수, 토양 등의 직 간접사용가치 및 비사용가치의 손상 비용을 분석하고자 하였다. 본 연구에서는 지하수 등 자연환경 가치 분류 및 국내 관련 연구사례를 분석하였다. 그리고 OECD(2008) 무대응 비용을 분석하고 국외 다른 실증 분석 사례 및 유럽 토양기능 저하 분석 모형 등과 연계하였다. 지하수 등 자연환경의 질적, 양적 저하에 대한 무대응 비용의 금전적 측정을 위해서는 인체 피해, 물적 피해를 가시화 할 수 있는 자연환경 변화와 인간, 생태계 영향 간의 물리적 연관성을 추정하는 연구가 핵심적임을 확인하였다. OECD(2008) gives the concepts of inaction costs on key environmental challenges including: direct financial costs; total financial costs; total use costs; and total social welfare costs. In analyzing the losses of environmental goods' various values conducted by domestic and foreign researchers, this study suggests the value-cost category of OECD(2008) and other studies; and the indirect use and non-use values of groundwater and other natural environment using the concepts of inaction costs. The studies on the damages and their relationships among human, property, and ecosystem are essential to monetary valuation on the qualitative or quantitative degradation of groundwater and other natural environment.

A Multivariate Statistical Analysis of Groundwater Chemistry Data in the Highest Bandama Basin at Tortiya (Northern Côte D’Ivoire)

The multivariate statistical tools R-mode hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and principal component analysis (PCA) were simultaneously applied to groundwater hydrochemical data of the Highest Bandama Basin (Northern of Cote d'Ivoire) to extract principal processes controlling water chemistry. Though the PCA proved to be more robust at unveiling the sources of variation in the hydrochemistry than the R-mode hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), the combined use of both techniques resulted in more reliable interpretations of the hydrochemistry. They reveal three processes responsible of water chemistry which are mineralization-water residence time, oxidation process and spatial origin of water and degradation of quality. Among these processes, mineralization-water chemistry by mean of water-interaction and weathering of silicate minerals is the most important. The oxidation process underlines the influence of environment conditions and aquifers state in ions acquisition. Indeed, the probable degradation of groundwater is thus revealing.