High concentration of solutes at the upper part of the saturated zone (water table) of a deep aquifer under sewage-irrigated land

The water-table region (upper 50 cm of the saturated zone) of a 25 m deep phreatic sandstone aquifer, lying under fields irrigated with sewage effluents for up to 22 yrs, was monitored in 1971 and 1984. Average concentrations of NO⁻₃, Cl⁻ and SO²⁻₄ of up to 225, 307 and 155 mg l⁻¹, respectively, were detected in the upper 50 cm of the saturated region in two research wells in 1984. These concentrations, which are related to effluent and fertilizer input to groundwater, were two to four times higher than those found deep (37–55 m) below the water table in nearby (1000 m distant) production wells. Nitrate data and the estimated transit time through the unsaturated zone (2 m yr⁻¹) support the model suggesting that the major source of nitrate pollution in the past should be related to the oxidation of soil organic matter. The SO²⁻₄/Cl⁻ ratio is found to be a useful indicator for the arrival of SO²⁻₄-fertilizers at the groundwater interface. The observations presented in this paper question the suitability of plans for using effluents as a water source for agriculture in regions which are the replenishment areas of phreatic aquifers.