Toxic elements in the groundwater of Budapest, Hungary

Abstract

The birth of urban geologic maps (which are considered environmental-geologic themed maps) and the progress in development of their content and design were driven by the growing importance of addressing environmental problems, and the increasing complex utilization of urban areas. Therefore, MAFI and, since 2012, the MFGI Department of Environmental Geology, have prepared a series of maps for the local authorities of Budapest. These maps usually focus on the problems of urban planning from the viewpoint of geology, hydrogeology, and water chemistry, and as experience shows, they prove to be excellent tools in decision-making processes. This paper examines the chemical content of groundwater, which is one of the main indicators of the state of the environment. According to the everyday experience of the authors it is very useful to understand the state of both quality and quantity of subsurface and surface water. In a recent series of research work we measured the zinc, copper, boron and arsenic level of t...