Nitrate occurrence and attenuation in the major aquifers of England and Wales

Rivett, Michael O.; Smith, Jonathan W. N.; Buss, Stephen; Morgan, Phil G.

doi:10.1144/1470-9236/07-032

Cited by 81 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…Nitrate is already widespread in the aquifers of the UK often at elevated concentrations (Rivett et al, 2007 (Stuart et al, 2007). Under current climate conditions and agricultural practices concentrations are predicted to continue to rise in the UK Chalk aquifer (Wang et al, in press).…”

Section: Abstracted Groundwatermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the UK, nitrate is almost ubiquitous in groundwater, often at elevated concentrations and exceeding drinking water standards (Rivett et al, 2007). It is the most widespread groundwater quality problem facing the UK water industry and environmental regulators, as it is the single biggest cause of groundwater body status failure under the WFD (UKWIR, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A review of the impact of climate change on future nitrate concentrations in groundwater of the UK

Stuart

Gooddy

Bloomfield

et al. 2011

Science of The Total Environment

138

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This paper reviews the potential impacts of climate change on nitrate concentrations in groundwater of the UK using a Source-Pathway-Receptor framework. Changes in temperature, precipitation quantity and distribution, and atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations will affect the agricultural nitrate source term through changes in both soil processes and agricultural productivity. Non-agricultural source terms, such as urban areas and atmospheric deposition, are also expected to be affected. The implications for the rate of nitrate leaching to groundwater as a result of these changes are not yet fully understood but predictions suggest that leaching rate may increase under future climate scenarios. Climate change will affect the hydrological cycle with changes to recharge, groundwater levels and resources and flow processes. These changes will impact on concentrations of nitrate in abstracted water and other receptors, such as surface water and groundwater-fed wetlands.The implications for nitrate leaching to groundwater as a result of climate changes are not yet well enough understood to be able to make useful predictions without more site-specific data.The few studies which address the whole cycle show likely changes in nitrate leaching ranging from limited increases to a possible doubling of aquifer concentrations by 2100.These changes may be masked by nitrate reductions from improved agricultural practices, but a range of adaption measures need to be identified. Future impact may also be driven by economic responses to climate change. The study draws on extensive literature mainly from the UK and so presents a UK-based perspective, although literature for other temperate climates is included to augment that from Keywordsthe UK and to demonstrate that the proposed framework and general conclusions have a wider applicability.The principal N input to UK groundwater is derived from manures, fertilisers, sewage sludges and crop residues in agricultural areas (DEFRA, 2006). There are also smaller inputs from urban point sources and aerial deposition (Wakida and Lerner, 2005). N fertiliser can be applied as urea or ammonia, as well as nitrate, but the non-nitrate forms are generally converted rapidly to nitrate in the soils of the UK (MAFF, 1999). A small percentage of applied N is lost to the atmosphere as NH 3 , NO or N 2 O (Destouni and Darracq, 2009;Skiba et al., 1997;Sommer and Hutchings, 1995). A proportion of soil N is leached as nitrate from the base of the soil. This is either stored in, or transmitted through, the unsaturated zone to groundwater. groundwater. They found that although an ensemble average suggests there will be about a 5% reduction in annual potential groundwater recharge across the study area, this was not statistically significant at the 95% confidence level and more importantly observed that the spread of results for simulated changes in annual potential groundwater recharge range from a 26% decrease to a 31% increase by the 2080s, with ten GCMs predicting a decrease and three a...

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Section: Abstracted Groundwatermentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A review of the impact of climate change on future nitrate concentrations in groundwater of the UK

Stuart

Gooddy

Bloomfield

et al. 2011

Science of The Total Environment

138

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…This provided an estimated eventual limit of 200 years. Overall, Rivett et al (2007) judge denitrification in the unsaturated zone and in unconfined aquifers to be insignificant in decreasing the nitrate load.…”

Section: Nitrogen Fate and Transport In Groundwatermentioning

confidence: 90%

“…Figures 1-3 show the data for each report area in the study ordered by increasing median concentration for nitrate, nitrite and ammonia. Rivett et al (2007) assessed mean nitrate concentrations across England and Wales for 2006 using unpublished Environment Agency monitoring data, independent of the baseline studies summarised in this study. They show that many of the elevated occurrences coincide with major aquifer outcrops in rural agricultural catchments: the Chalk, Lincolnshire Limestones; parts of the Shropshire Sandstone in the west of England and Nottinghamshire Sandstones in the East Midlands.…”

Section: Baseline Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is little obvious overall lithological pattern with sandstones and chalk being represented in the top 10 median concentrations and sandstones, chalk, and igneous in the bottom 10 ( Figure 6). Rivett et al (2007) summarise DOC data collected by the Environment Agency (Table 6) (Gooddy and Hinsby, 2008). This is said to be a reflection of both the different sources of DOC and different aquifer properties.…”

Section: Baseline Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Macronutrient status of UK groundwater: Nitrogen, phosphorus and organic carbon

Stuart

Lapworth

2016

Science of The Total Environment

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Groundwater is a large, slowly changing pool of the macronutrients nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC), with impacts on receptors, surface waters, dependent wetlands and coastal marine ecosystems. Sources of N to groundwater include fertilisers, animal wastes and septic led to the reduction observed in rapidly-responding aquifers. For the Chalk, where the unsaturated zone is thick, improvements may not be seen for decades. P is less well-characterised in UK groundwater reflecting the lack of historical interest in groundwater P, although it can be significant in some aquifer matrices.

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Nitrate reduction mechanisms and rates in an unconfined eogenetic karst aquifer in two sites with different redox potential

et al. 2017

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This study integrates push‐pull tracer tests (PPTT) with microbial characterization of extracted water via quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and reverse transcriptase qPCR (RT‐qPCR) of selected functional N transformation genes to quantify nitrate reduction mechanisms and rates in sites with different redox potential in a karst aquifer. PPTT treatments with nitrate (AN) and nitrate‐fumarate (ANC) were executed in two wells representing anoxic and oxic geochemical end‐members. Oxic aquifer zero‐order nitrate loss rates (mmol L−1 h−1) were similar for AN and ANC treatment, ranging from 0.03 ± 0.01 to 0.05 ± 0.01. Anoxic aquifer zero‐order nitrate loss rates ranged from 0.03 ± 0.02 (AN) to 0.13 ± 0.02 (ANC). Microbial characterization indicates mechanisms influencing these rates were dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA) at the anoxic site with AN treatment, assimilatory reduction of nitrate to ammonium (ANRA) with ANC treatment in the water column at both sites, and additional documented nitrate reduction that occurred in unsampled biofilms. With carbon treatment, total numbers of microbes (16S rRNA genes) significantly increased (fourteenfold to thirtyfold), supporting stimulated growth with resulting ANRA. Decreased DNRA gene concentrations (nrfA DNA) and increased DNRA activity ratio (nrfA‐cDNA/DNA) supported the assertion that DNRA occurred in the anoxic zone with AN and ANC treatment. Furthermore, decreased DNRA gene copy numbers at the anoxic site with ANC treatment suggests that DNRA microbes in the anoxic site are chemolithoautotrophic. Increased RT‐qPCR denitrification gene expression (nirK and nirS) was not observed in water samples, supporting that any observed NO3‐N loss due to denitrification may be occurring in unsampled microbial biofilms.

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Nitrate occurrence and attenuation in the major aquifers of England and Wales

Cited by 81 publications

References 67 publications

A review of the impact of climate change on future nitrate concentrations in groundwater of the UK

A review of the impact of climate change on future nitrate concentrations in groundwater of the UK

Macronutrient status of UK groundwater: Nitrogen, phosphorus and organic carbon

Nitrate reduction mechanisms and rates in an unconfined eogenetic karst aquifer in two sites with different redox potential

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