‌Nitrate Concentration in Groundwater of Bahar Area, Hamadan

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Assoc. Prof

2 respectively, Soil Sci. Dept., College of Agric., Bu-Ali Sina Univ. Hamadan

Abstract

Nitrogen is vital for plant growth and influences yield and quality of agronomic and horticultural plants, but the presence of excessive amounts of this nutrient in water supplies has a negative impact on water quality. Sensitive crops may be also affected by nitrogen concentrations above 5 mg L-1. A survey was conducted to investigate nitrate pollution of well waters in Bahar area, Hamadan, western Iran. Nitrate concentration varied from 7 to 122 mg L-1 with an average of 41. Results showed that 18 % of samples had nitrate concentration of less than 25 mg L-1. Nitrate concentrations in 58 % of samples were in the range of 25-50 mg L-1, 18 % of samples were in the range of 51-75 mg L-1 and 6% of samples had concentrations above 75 mg L-1. This indicates that in 24 % of samples the concentration of nitrate is above the recommended guidelines of the World Health Organization (50 mg L–1 NO3 or 11.3 mg L-1 NO3-N). Nitrate concentration in shallow wells was higher than the deep wells. Results showed that concentration of NO3-N in 10 % of samples was less than 5 mg L-1 and 90 % of samples had concentrations in the range of 5 to 30 mg L-1. Improvement in the management of irrigation and fertilizer may reduce nitrate leaching and thus enhance groundwater quality.

Keywords


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