Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Natural and Anthropogenic Arsenic Sources in Groundwater Flow Systems

Claudia Avila-Sandoval, Hugo Júnez-Ferreira, Julián González-Trinidad, Carlos Bautista-Capetillo, Anuard Pacheco-Guerrero and Edith Olmos-Trujillo
Additional contact information
Claudia Avila-Sandoval: Doctorado en Ciencias de la Ingeniería, Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas, Campus UAZ Siglo XXI, Carretera Zacatecas-Guadalajara Km. 6, Ejido la Escondida, C.P. 98160 Zacatecas, Mexico
Hugo Júnez-Ferreira: Doctorado en Ciencias de la Ingeniería, Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas, Campus UAZ Siglo XXI, Carretera Zacatecas-Guadalajara Km. 6, Ejido la Escondida, C.P. 98160 Zacatecas, Mexico
Julián González-Trinidad: Doctorado en Ciencias de la Ingeniería, Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas, Campus UAZ Siglo XXI, Carretera Zacatecas-Guadalajara Km. 6, Ejido la Escondida, C.P. 98160 Zacatecas, Mexico
Carlos Bautista-Capetillo: Doctorado en Ciencias de la Ingeniería, Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas, Campus UAZ Siglo XXI, Carretera Zacatecas-Guadalajara Km. 6, Ejido la Escondida, C.P. 98160 Zacatecas, Mexico
Anuard Pacheco-Guerrero: Doctorado en Ciencias de la Ingeniería, Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas, Campus UAZ Siglo XXI, Carretera Zacatecas-Guadalajara Km. 6, Ejido la Escondida, C.P. 98160 Zacatecas, Mexico
Edith Olmos-Trujillo: Doctorado en Ciencias de la Ingeniería, Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas, Campus UAZ Siglo XXI, Carretera Zacatecas-Guadalajara Km. 6, Ejido la Escondida, C.P. 98160 Zacatecas, Mexico

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 11, 1-18

Abstract: The presence of arsenic in groundwater constitutes a hazard for the environment and human health, and the determination of its source has become a global challenge, which can be approached by defining the natural background levels (NBL) in conjunction with the indicator kriging method, with the aim of delineating anthropogenically contaminated areas. However, having a unique value of NBL for large areas can generate interpretation errors. This research integrates the determination of the flow systems present in the Calera Aquifer, and the definition of the natural background levels in each flow system by making estimation maps in ArcGIS using two databases, 10 years apart, to evaluate the spatio-temporal variation of arsenic in groundwater. The results indicate a notable increase in the probability of exceeding the arsenic NBL, mainly in the intermediate flow, which may be due to movement resulting from mining activities as well as a mixture of regional and intermediate flows caused by the extraction of water for agriculture and drinking water supplies. The presented values exceed the maximum limits allowed for human consumption, as stated by the World Health Organization.

Keywords: arsenic; natural background levels; indicator kriging; flow systems; groundwater (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/11/2374/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/11/2374/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:11:p:2374-:d:178591

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().