Decadal Delays in Groundwater Recovery from Nitrate Contamination Caused by Low O 2 Reduction Rates

Abstract

Nitrate (NO −3 ) is one of the main pollutants in agriculturally impacted groundwater systems. The availability and reactivity of electron donors control the prevalent redox conditions in aquifers and past nitrate contamination of groundwater can be ameliorated if denitrification occurs. Using aqueous geochemistry data and the stable isotope composition of dissolved nitrate (δ 15 N and δ 18 O), we found that nitrate concentrations above the World Health Organization drinking water guideline were caused predominantly by manure and to a lesser extent by synthetic fertilizer applications and that denitrification was not a significant nitrate removal process in an aquifer in southern Germany underlying agricultural land with intensive hog farming. We also applied environmental isotopes (δ 2 H and δ 18 O, 3 H/ 3 He, and 14 C) linked with a lumped parameter approach to determine apparent mean transit times (MTT) of groundwater that ranged from <5 years to >100 years. Furthermore, we determined low reduction rates of dissolved oxygen (O 2 ) of 0.015 1/year for first-order kinetics. By extrapolating the O 2 reduction rates beyond the apparent MTT ranges of sampled groundwater, denitrification lag times (time prior to commencement of denitrification) of approximately 114 years were determined. This suggests that it will take many decades to significantly reduce nitrate concentrations in the porous aquifer via denitrification, even if future nitrate inputs were significantly reduced.