Study of natural attenuation of nitrate in groundwater: Application to urbanizations with a high index of social vulnerability
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59069/24225703ee023Keywords:
groundwater, denitrification, isotopeAbstract
Denitrification is the main natural process to attenuate nitrate contamination in groundwater. In this work the attenuation of nitrate by denitrification has been studied in groundwater used for different purposes in urbanizations with a high index of social vulnerability located in the middle basin of the Matanza-Riachuelo River, Buenos Aires, Argentina. The denitrification process and its extent have been characterized using the isotopic composition of nitrogen and oxygen of dissolved nitrate (δ15N-NO3- y δ18O-NO3-). In addition, stable nitrate isotopes have been used to identify the source of nitrate contamination in groundwater. The dissolved nitrate in the studied groundwater varied between 45 and 128 mg/L. The isotopic composition of δ15NNO3 varied between +7.4 ‰ and +18.4 ‰ and δ18ONO3 varied between +3.6 ‰ and +9.3 ‰. Most water samples taken from private supply wells show isotopic values similar to those of the nitrate source from leakage from septic system. The estimated percentage of denitrification varied between 5% and 31%, suggesting that natural nitrate attenuation is low. Hence, only a low proportion of nitrate is removed by natural denitrification in the groundwater analyzed.
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