Vulnerability of groundwater from elevated nitrate pollution across India: Insights from spatio-temporal patterns using large-scale monitoring data

Soumyajit Sarkar; Abhijit Mukherjee; Srimanti Duttagupta; Soumendra Nath Bhanja; Animesh Bhattacharya; Swagata Chakraborty

doi:10.1016/j.jconhyd.2021.103895

Vulnerability of groundwater from elevated nitrate pollution across India: Insights from spatio-temporal patterns using large-scale monitoring data

Soumyajit Sarkar, Abhijit Mukherjee, Srimanti Duttagupta, Soumendra Nath Bhanja, Animesh Bhattacharya, Swagata Chakraborty

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

28 Scopus citations

Abstract

Agriculture-sourced, non-point groundwater contamination (e.g., nitrate) is a serious concern from the drinking water crisis aspect across the agrarian world. India is one of the largest consumers of nitrogen fertilizers in South-Asia as well as in the world but groundwater nitrate lacks critical attention as a wide-scale drinking water pollutant in the country. Our study provides the first documentation of the distribution of groundwater nitrate and the extent of elevated nitrate contamination across India, along with the delineation of the temporal trends and the natural and anthropogenic factors that influence such occurrence of groundwater nitrate. High resolution, annual-scale spatio-temporal variability of groundwater nitrate concentration and consequent contamination was delineated using groundwater nitrate measurements from ~3 million drinking water wells spread across 7038 administrative blocks between 2010 and 2017 in India. An average 8% of the studied blocks were found affected by elevated groundwater nitrate (> 45 mg/L). Depth-dependent trend demonstrated that nitrate concentrations were about 14% higher in shallow water wells (≤ 35 m) than deep wells (>35 m). The overall temporal trend of groundwater nitrate concentration was decreasing slightly nationwide in the study period. The correlation tests and causality test results indicated that the spatial distribution of groundwater nitrate was significantly associated with agricultural N-fertilizer usage, whereas the decreasing temporal trend corresponded with the overall reduced N-fertilizer usage during the study period. Spatial autocorrelation analysis identified the clustering of high nitrate areas in central, north, and southern India, specifically in areas with higher fertilizer usage. We estimate about 71 million Indians possibly exposed to elevated groundwater nitrate concentrations and the majority of them reside in rural areas. Thus, this study provides the previously unrecognized, wide-scale, anthropogenic, diffused groundwater nitrate contamination across India.

Original language	English
Article number	103895
Journal	Journal of Contaminant Hydrology
Volume	243
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jconhyd.2021.103895
State	Published - Dec 2021
Externally published	Yes

Funding

We acknowledge our colleagues at the School of Environmental Science and Technology in the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur for their support and valuable discussions. We thank the Public Health Engineering Department, Govt. of West Bengal and the Central Ground Water Board of India, for assisting in the collection and compilation of data. We are thankful to Mr. Joydeep Tapswai and Ms. Vijay Laxmi Valerian, Public Health Engineering Department, Govt. of West Bengal for providing the data support. Three projects i.e. 1) the NERC-DST Newton-Bhabha project (FAR-GANGA) by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India [vide no. DST/TM/INDO-UK/2 K17/55(C) & 55(G)], 2) the project of the Ministry of Earth Science, Government of India [vide no. MOES/PAMC/H&C/23/2013-PC-II ], and 3) the project of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India [vide no.DST/TMD-EWO/WTI/2K19/EWFH/2019/201 (G) & (C)] also partially supported the present work. We acknowledge our colleagues at the School of Environmental Science and Technology in the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur for their support and valuable discussions. We thank the Public Health Engineering Department, Govt. of West Bengal and the Central Ground Water Board of India, for assisting in the collection and compilation of data. We are thankful to Mr. Joydeep Tapswai and Ms. Vijay Laxmi Valerian, Public Health Engineering Department, Govt. of West Bengal for providing the data support. Three projects i.e. 1) the NERC-DST Newton-Bhabha project (FAR-GANGA) by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India [vide no. DST/TM/INDO-UK/2 K17/55(C) & 55(G)], 2) the project of the Ministry of Earth Science, Government of India [vide no. MOES/PAMC/H&C/23/2013-PC-II ], and 3) the project of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India [vide no.DST/TMD-EWO/WTI/2K19/EWFH/2019/201 (G) & (C)] also partially supported the present work.

Funders	Funder number
Ministry of Earth Science, Government of India	TMD-EWO/WTI/2K19/EWFH/2019/201
NERC-DST Newton-Bhabha
Public Health Engineering Department
Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, India	DST/TM/INDO-UK/2 K17/55
Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, India
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

Keywords

Fertilizer
Groundwater
Nitrate
Non-point source
Vulnerability

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.jconhyd.2021.103895

Cite this

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title = "Vulnerability of groundwater from elevated nitrate pollution across India: Insights from spatio-temporal patterns using large-scale monitoring data",

abstract = "Agriculture-sourced, non-point groundwater contamination (e.g., nitrate) is a serious concern from the drinking water crisis aspect across the agrarian world. India is one of the largest consumers of nitrogen fertilizers in South-Asia as well as in the world but groundwater nitrate lacks critical attention as a wide-scale drinking water pollutant in the country. Our study provides the first documentation of the distribution of groundwater nitrate and the extent of elevated nitrate contamination across India, along with the delineation of the temporal trends and the natural and anthropogenic factors that influence such occurrence of groundwater nitrate. High resolution, annual-scale spatio-temporal variability of groundwater nitrate concentration and consequent contamination was delineated using groundwater nitrate measurements from ~3 million drinking water wells spread across 7038 administrative blocks between 2010 and 2017 in India. An average 8% of the studied blocks were found affected by elevated groundwater nitrate (> 45 mg/L). Depth-dependent trend demonstrated that nitrate concentrations were about 14% higher in shallow water wells (≤ 35 m) than deep wells (>35 m). The overall temporal trend of groundwater nitrate concentration was decreasing slightly nationwide in the study period. The correlation tests and causality test results indicated that the spatial distribution of groundwater nitrate was significantly associated with agricultural N-fertilizer usage, whereas the decreasing temporal trend corresponded with the overall reduced N-fertilizer usage during the study period. Spatial autocorrelation analysis identified the clustering of high nitrate areas in central, north, and southern India, specifically in areas with higher fertilizer usage. We estimate about 71 million Indians possibly exposed to elevated groundwater nitrate concentrations and the majority of them reside in rural areas. Thus, this study provides the previously unrecognized, wide-scale, anthropogenic, diffused groundwater nitrate contamination across India.",

keywords = "Fertilizer, Groundwater, Nitrate, Non-point source, Vulnerability",

author = "Soumyajit Sarkar and Abhijit Mukherjee and Srimanti Duttagupta and Bhanja, {Soumendra Nath} and Animesh Bhattacharya and Swagata Chakraborty",

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AU - Sarkar, Soumyajit

AU - Mukherjee, Abhijit

AU - Duttagupta, Srimanti

AU - Bhanja, Soumendra Nath

AU - Bhattacharya, Animesh

AU - Chakraborty, Swagata

PY - 2021/12

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N2 - Agriculture-sourced, non-point groundwater contamination (e.g., nitrate) is a serious concern from the drinking water crisis aspect across the agrarian world. India is one of the largest consumers of nitrogen fertilizers in South-Asia as well as in the world but groundwater nitrate lacks critical attention as a wide-scale drinking water pollutant in the country. Our study provides the first documentation of the distribution of groundwater nitrate and the extent of elevated nitrate contamination across India, along with the delineation of the temporal trends and the natural and anthropogenic factors that influence such occurrence of groundwater nitrate. High resolution, annual-scale spatio-temporal variability of groundwater nitrate concentration and consequent contamination was delineated using groundwater nitrate measurements from ~3 million drinking water wells spread across 7038 administrative blocks between 2010 and 2017 in India. An average 8% of the studied blocks were found affected by elevated groundwater nitrate (> 45 mg/L). Depth-dependent trend demonstrated that nitrate concentrations were about 14% higher in shallow water wells (≤ 35 m) than deep wells (>35 m). The overall temporal trend of groundwater nitrate concentration was decreasing slightly nationwide in the study period. The correlation tests and causality test results indicated that the spatial distribution of groundwater nitrate was significantly associated with agricultural N-fertilizer usage, whereas the decreasing temporal trend corresponded with the overall reduced N-fertilizer usage during the study period. Spatial autocorrelation analysis identified the clustering of high nitrate areas in central, north, and southern India, specifically in areas with higher fertilizer usage. We estimate about 71 million Indians possibly exposed to elevated groundwater nitrate concentrations and the majority of them reside in rural areas. Thus, this study provides the previously unrecognized, wide-scale, anthropogenic, diffused groundwater nitrate contamination across India.

AB - Agriculture-sourced, non-point groundwater contamination (e.g., nitrate) is a serious concern from the drinking water crisis aspect across the agrarian world. India is one of the largest consumers of nitrogen fertilizers in South-Asia as well as in the world but groundwater nitrate lacks critical attention as a wide-scale drinking water pollutant in the country. Our study provides the first documentation of the distribution of groundwater nitrate and the extent of elevated nitrate contamination across India, along with the delineation of the temporal trends and the natural and anthropogenic factors that influence such occurrence of groundwater nitrate. High resolution, annual-scale spatio-temporal variability of groundwater nitrate concentration and consequent contamination was delineated using groundwater nitrate measurements from ~3 million drinking water wells spread across 7038 administrative blocks between 2010 and 2017 in India. An average 8% of the studied blocks were found affected by elevated groundwater nitrate (> 45 mg/L). Depth-dependent trend demonstrated that nitrate concentrations were about 14% higher in shallow water wells (≤ 35 m) than deep wells (>35 m). The overall temporal trend of groundwater nitrate concentration was decreasing slightly nationwide in the study period. The correlation tests and causality test results indicated that the spatial distribution of groundwater nitrate was significantly associated with agricultural N-fertilizer usage, whereas the decreasing temporal trend corresponded with the overall reduced N-fertilizer usage during the study period. Spatial autocorrelation analysis identified the clustering of high nitrate areas in central, north, and southern India, specifically in areas with higher fertilizer usage. We estimate about 71 million Indians possibly exposed to elevated groundwater nitrate concentrations and the majority of them reside in rural areas. Thus, this study provides the previously unrecognized, wide-scale, anthropogenic, diffused groundwater nitrate contamination across India.

KW - Fertilizer

KW - Groundwater

KW - Nitrate

KW - Non-point source

KW - Vulnerability

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SN - 0169-7722

VL - 243

JO - Journal of Contaminant Hydrology

JF - Journal of Contaminant Hydrology

M1 - 103895

ER -

Vulnerability of groundwater from elevated nitrate pollution across India: Insights from spatio-temporal patterns using large-scale monitoring data

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

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