Evaluation of the risk of diffuse pollution of groundwater by nitrogen substances from agricultural land use as background for allocation of effective measures

• Main Authors: Bujnovský Radoslav, Malík Peter, Švasta Jaromír
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sciendo 2016-03-01
• Series: Ekológia (Bratislava)
• Subjects: groundwater; vulnerability; environment load; agricultural land use; risk of pollution; nitrogen
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1515/eko-2016-0005

The risk of diffuse pollution of groundwater by nitrogen substances from agricultural land is perceived as a result of the interaction of groundwater vulnerability (determined by the characteristics of the environment overlying groundwater in relation to water transport or soil solution) and loading of overlying environment by nitrogen. Index of groundwater vulnerability was assessed on the basis of four parameters, namely, the amount of effective rainfall in the period from October to March, the capacity of soil to accumulate water, the average depth of the groundwater table and the permeability of the rock environment. Assessment of the index of loading of overlying environment by nitrogen was based on two parameters, namely, nitrogen balance and crop cover on agricultural land in the winter half on districts level in 2012, which corresponds with current state of the load. The resulting risk of groundwater pollution by nitrogen was expressed by the formula counting with the transformed values of groundwater vulnerability index and the index of loading of overlying environment by nitrogen. From practical point of view, the above mentioned indexes, as well as the subsequent risk of diffuse groundwater pollution, were spatially expressed via three associated categories. Based on the evaluation of relevant parameters, 5.18% of agricultural land falls into the category of very high and high risk, 42.20% in the medium risk category and 52.62% in the category of low and very low risk of diffuse pollution of groundwater by nitrogen from agricultural land.