The long term effect of agricultural, vadose zone and climatic factors on nitrate contamination in Nebraska's groundwater system

A four-decade dataset (1974–2013) of 107,823 nitrate samples in 25,993 wells from western and eastern parts of Nebraska was used to assess long-term trends of groundwater nitrate concentration and decadal changes in the extent of groundwater nitrate-contaminated areas (NO3-N ≥ 10 mg N/L) over the en...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of contaminant hydrology 2019-01, Vol.220, p.33-48
Main Authors: Juntakut, Pongpun, Snow, Daniel D., Haacker, Erin M.K., Ray, Chittaranjan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
agricultural
CART method
Groundwater nitrate contamination
Nebraska
vadose zone and climatic factors
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Summary:A four-decade dataset (1974–2013) of 107,823 nitrate samples in 25,993 wells from western and eastern parts of Nebraska was used to assess long-term trends of groundwater nitrate concentration and decadal changes in the extent of groundwater nitrate-contaminated areas (NO3-N ≥ 10 mg N/L) over the entire state. Spatial statistics and regressions were used to investigate the relationships between groundwater nitrate concentrations and several potential natural and anthropogenic factors, including soil drainage capacities, vadose zone characteristics, crop production areas, and irrigation systems. The results of this study show that there is no statistically significant trend in groundwater nitrate concentrations in western Nebraska, in contrast with the increasing trend (p 
ISSN:0169-7722
1873-6009
DOI:10.1016/j.jconhyd.2018.11.007