Groundwater nitrate contamination and risk assessment in an agricultural area, South Korea

The nitrate of groundwater in the Gimpo agricultural area, South Korea, was characterized by means of nitrate concentration, nitrogen-isotope analysis, and the risk assessment of nitrogen. The groundwaters belonging to Ca–(Cl + NO3) and Na–(Cl + NO3) types displayed a higher average NO3− concentration (79.4 mg/L), exceeding the Korean drinking water standard (<44.3 mg/L NO3−). The relationship between δ18O–NO3− values and δ15N–NO3− values revealed that nearly all groundwater samples with δ15N–NO3− of +7.57 to +13.5‰ were affected by nitrate from manure/sewage as well as microbial nitrification and negligible denitrification. The risk assessment of nitrate for groundwater in the study area was carried out using the risk-based corrective action model since it was recognized that there is a necessity of a quantitative assessment of health hazard, as well as a simple estimation of nitrate concentration. All the groundwaters of higher nitrate concentration than the Korean drinking water standard (<44.3 mg/L NO3−) belonged to the domain of the hazard index <1, indicating no health hazard by nitrate in groundwater in the study area. Further, the human exposure to the nitrate-contaminated soil was below the critical limit of non-carcinogenic risk.

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