Identification of Groundwater Contamination in a Rapidly Urbanized Area on a Regional Scale: A New Approach of Multi-Hydrochemical Evidences

Pan Bi, Lixin Pei, Guanxing Huang, Dongya Han and Jiangmin Song
Additional contact information
Pan Bi: School of Water Resources and Environment, Hebei GEO University, Shijiazhuang 050031, China
Lixin Pei: Haikou Marine Geological Survey Center, China Geological Survey, Haikou 571100, China
Guanxing Huang: Institute of Hydrogeology and Environmental Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Shijiazhuang 050061, China
Dongya Han: Institute of Hydrogeology and Environmental Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Shijiazhuang 050061, China
Jiangmin Song: Institute of Hydrogeology and Environmental Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Shijiazhuang 050061, China

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 22, 1-13

Abstract: Efficient identification of groundwater contamination is a major issue in the context of groundwater use and protection. This study used a new approach of multi-hydrochemical indicators, including the Cl-Br mass ratio, the hydrochemical facies, and the concentrations of nitrate, phosphate, organic contaminants, and Pb in groundwater to identify groundwater contamination in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) where there is large scale urbanization. In addition, the main factors resulting in groundwater contamination in the PRD were also discussed by using socioeconomic data and principal component analysis. Approximately 60% of groundwater sites in the PRD were identified to be contaminated according to the above six indicators. Contaminated groundwaters commonly occur in porous and fissured aquifers but rarely in karst aquifers. Groundwater contamination in porous aquifers is positively correlated with the urbanization level. Similarly, in fissured aquifers, the proportions of contaminated groundwater in urbanized and peri-urban areas were approximately two times that in non-urbanized areas. Groundwater contamination in the PRD was mainly attributed to the infiltration of wastewater from township-village enterprises on a regional scale. In addition, livestock waste was also an important source of groundwater contamination in the PRD. Therefore, in the future, the supervision of the wastewater discharge of township-village enterprises and the waste discharge of livestock should be strengthened to protect against groundwater contamination in the PRD.

Keywords: groundwater contamination; multi-hydrochemical evidences; porous aquifers; fissured aquifers; urbanization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/22/12143/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/22/12143/ (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:18:y:2021:i:22:p:12143-:d:682984

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 ().