Assessing nitrate contamination and its potential health risk to Kinmen residents

Abstract

Kinmen is located in the southwest of Mainland China. Groundwater supplies 50% of the domestic water use on the island. Residents of Kinmen drink groundwater over the long term because surface water resources are limited. Nitrate-N pollution is found and distributed primarily in the western part of groundwater aquifer whereas saline groundwater is distributed to the northeastern Kinmen. This work applied the DRASTIC model to construct the vulnerability map of Kinmen groundwater. MT3D was then used to evaluate the contamination potential of nitrate-N. The health risk associated with the ingestion of nitrate-N contaminated groundwater is also assessed. The results from DRASTIC model showed that the upland crop and grass land have high contamination potential, whereas the forest, reservoir and housing land have low contamination potential. The calibrated MT3D model inversely determined the high strength sources (0.09-2.74 kg/m(2)/year) of nitrate contaminant located in the west to the north west area and required 2-5 years travel time to reach the monitoring wells. Simulated results of MT3D also showed that both the continuous and instantaneous contaminant sources of nitrate-N release may cause serious to moderate nitrate contamination in the western Kinmen and jeopardize the domestic use of groundwater. The chronic health hazard quotient (HQ) associated with the potential non-carcinogenic risk of drinking nitrate-N contaminated groundwater showed that the assessed 95th percentile of HQ is 2.74, indicating that exposure to waterborne nitrate poses a potential non-cancer risk to the residents of the island. Corrective measures, including protecting groundwater recharge zones and reducing the number of agricultural and non-agricultural nitrogen sources that enters the aquifer, should be implemented especially in the western part of Kinmen to assure a sustainable use of groundwater resources.

Tracking nitrate sources in groundwater and associated health risk for rural communities in the White Volta River basin of Ghana using isotopic approach (δ15N, δ18O NO3 and 3H)

“…Furthermore, it can also be observed that, the risky areas (HQ nitrate N 1) for children are higher than that of adults, reaffirming the fact that children are more vulnerable than adults. Non-carcinogenic risk of NO 3 − in drinking water is becoming a major concern to many countries where majority of the population, especially in rural areas, depend on groundwater (Nadia et al, 2015;Liu et al, 2011;Chen et al, 2016). In view of the rising trend in nitrate concentration in the drinking water and the vulnerability of the study area, the relevant stakeholders such as government, district assemblies, water resources managers and the communities must lay emphasis on the protection of public sources of drinking water so as to protect public health.…”

Chemically modified biochar produced from conocarpus waste increases NO3 removal from aqueous solutions

“…Nitrate pollution of water is a worldwide problem associated with the extensive use of nitrogen fertilizers and manure in agricultural fields (Liu et al 2011;Ahmad et al 2014b). Elevated NO 3 levels in drinking water are toxic to humans, causing methemoglobinemia in infants and cancer of the digestive tract (Keshavarzi et al 2012;Camargo et al 2005).…”

Contamination of Nitrate in Groundwater and Evaluation of Health Risk in Bachok, Kelantan: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Nitrate in drinking water may pose a health risk when the levels exceed the MCL of 10 mg L −1 (Coss et al, 2004;Liu et al, 2011). Agriculture uses large amounts of fertilizer and manure compost on farming lands, causing the significant nitrate pollution in groundwater.…”

“…For example, infants below 6 months could become seriously ill and may cause fatality due to nitrate exposure. The symptom of nitrate toxic is shortness of breath and blue-baby syndrome (Liu et al, 2011). Besides, long term exposure to low levels of nitrate presents a noncarcinogenic risk to human (Majumdar and Gupta, 2000).…”

“…A method for estimating the Target Hazard Quotient (THQ) by the US EPA Regional Risk-Based Concentration Table was used (Liu et al, 2011). The risk associated with the non-cancer effects of nitrate through drinking water is expressed as follows: An acceptable standard human health risk by drinking water is a THQ value of under unity (Liu et al, 2011).…”