Sources and health risk assessments of nitrate in groundwater, West of Tahta area, Sohag, Egypt

Abstract

Due to natural and anthropogenic human activities in arid and semi-arid regions, groundwater will continuously suffer from severe contaminations such as increases in nitrate levels. Groundwater contamination poses serious threats to the environment and human health. In the current study, 23 groundwater samples were collected from the desert zone around the wastewater treatment plant west of Tahta area, Sohag, Egypt. The samples were chemically and bacteriologically analyzed to quantify the sources and potential risk of nitrate in groundwater to the health of adults, children and infants. The nitrate showed wide spatial variability in the studied area, with values going from 0.38 up to 59 mg/L. Based on the bacteriological, principal component, NO 3 and NO 3-/Clanalyses, nitrate in the southwestern parts around the wastewater treatment plant developed from the sewage contamination while the northeastern and southern parts are mainly due to contamination from the agricultural activities and organic wastes. The non-carcinogenic hazard quotients (HQ) values of 78% of infants, 70% children and 4% of adults were higher than the safety level (i.e., HQs>1), suggesting severe health effects on human health. Proper management of wastewater disposal activities and application of fertilizers are required to reduce groundwater contamination in Egypt and globally.

Fossil Saline Groundwater and Their Flushing Out At Gilsan Stream Catchment in the Western Coastal Area of Seocheon, Korea

“…전세계적으로 해안지대에서의 지하수 염분화(salinization of groundwater)는 주로 해수 침투(seawater intrusion)에 의한 현상으로 해석되며, 이러한 해수 침투는 자연적으 로 발생되기도 하고, 해안 대수층 지하수를 사용하게 됨 으로써 인위적으로 유도되거나 증폭되기도 한다 (Calvache and Pulido-Bosch, 1997;Barker et al, 1998;Martínez and Bocanegra, 2002;Ozler, 2003;Kim et al, 2004;Pool and Carrera, 2010;Badaruddin et al, 2015;Cao et al, 2021;Boufekane et al, 2022). 지하수 내 높은 염분에 대한 원 인은 해수 침투 이외에도 퇴적물 내 잔존하는 고(古)염 분 지하수(fossil saline water within sediments), 암염 용 해(halite dissolution), 석유/가스 부존지역 염수(oiland gas-field brine), 농업 유출수(agricultural effluents), 제설 용 소금(CaCl 2 -deicers), 음식물에 사용된 소금(NaCl), 해 무(sea spray) 등 다양한 것으로 보고되었다 (Park et al, 2002;Chi et al, 2003;Kim et al, 2004;Freeman, 2007;Akouvi et al, 2008;Kim and Koretsky, 2013;Kang and Jackson, 2016;Redwan et al, 2020;Smith et al, 2021).…”

Multivariate statistics explaining groundwater chemistry, Asyut, Egypt

“…Evaporation factor enhances groundwater bacteria, sulfate, chloride, and nitrates (Dissanayake & Chandrajith, 2009). Groundwater pollution due to the absence/deterioration of sewage systems and intensive fertilization has received attention in Egyptian literature (Redwan et al, 2020;Said et al, 2020;Ewida et al, 2021;Said & Salman, 2021;Salem et al, 2021).…”