{"title":"Nitrate in ground and surface waters in the vicinity of a concentrated animal feeding operation","authors":"D. Toetz","doi":"10.1127/0003-9136/2006/0166-0067","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Non-point source pollution by nitrates (NO 3 ) from fertilizers and animal wastes has potential effects on human health and eutrophication of surface waters. Until now one problem in determining sources of NO 3 has been the difficulty of identifying origin. Stable isotopes of nitrogen can be used as a signature of NO 3 to identify origin from animal wastes. NO 3 derived from animal waste has a δ 15 N signature of +10 +20‰, which is uniquely high compared to δ 15 NO 3 from other sources. The purpose of this research was to describe the distribution of δ 15 NO 3 , NO 3 and Cl in wells, springs, seeps and lakes in the vicinity of a concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO), which was the suspected source of contamination. Nitrate concentrations and δ 15 NO 3 were higher in wells just below the waste spray area of the CAFO than above it. Chloride ion concentrations in wells confirmed a contaminated area below the waste spray area. Surface water samples had a wide range of NO 3 concentrations and were uncontaminated, except for samples from one seep and one spring. However, the mean δ 15 NO 3 in samples from springs were +3.9 to +5.0‰, values that are in a range reported for soil NO 3 . Thus, although data are not available on groundwater movement, both stable isotope signatures and chloride concentrations indicate that animal wastes were the source of NO 3 contamination.","PeriodicalId":8118,"journal":{"name":"Archiv Fur Hydrobiologie","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2006-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"14","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Archiv Fur Hydrobiologie","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1127/0003-9136/2006/0166-0067","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 14
Abstract
Non-point source pollution by nitrates (NO 3 ) from fertilizers and animal wastes has potential effects on human health and eutrophication of surface waters. Until now one problem in determining sources of NO 3 has been the difficulty of identifying origin. Stable isotopes of nitrogen can be used as a signature of NO 3 to identify origin from animal wastes. NO 3 derived from animal waste has a δ 15 N signature of +10 +20‰, which is uniquely high compared to δ 15 NO 3 from other sources. The purpose of this research was to describe the distribution of δ 15 NO 3 , NO 3 and Cl in wells, springs, seeps and lakes in the vicinity of a concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO), which was the suspected source of contamination. Nitrate concentrations and δ 15 NO 3 were higher in wells just below the waste spray area of the CAFO than above it. Chloride ion concentrations in wells confirmed a contaminated area below the waste spray area. Surface water samples had a wide range of NO 3 concentrations and were uncontaminated, except for samples from one seep and one spring. However, the mean δ 15 NO 3 in samples from springs were +3.9 to +5.0‰, values that are in a range reported for soil NO 3 . Thus, although data are not available on groundwater movement, both stable isotope signatures and chloride concentrations indicate that animal wastes were the source of NO 3 contamination.