Identification of River Valley Areas Threatening the Chemical Status of Groundwater, in the Example of the Upper Course of the Ner River Basin, Central Poland

Ewa Krogulec; Jerzy J. Małecki; Marzena Szostakiewicz-Hołownia; Joanna Trzeciak; Sebastian Zabłocki; Maciej Ziułkiewicz

doi:10.14746/quageo-2024-0024

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Identification of River Valley Areas Threatening the Chemical Status of Groundwater, in the Example of the Upper Course of the Ner River Basin, Central Poland

Quaestiones Geographicae

Volume 43 (2024): Issue 3 (September 2024)

By: Ewa Krogulec , Jerzy J. Małecki , Marzena Szostakiewicz-Hołownia , Joanna Trzeciak , Sebastian Zabłocki and Maciej Ziułkiewicz

Open Access

|Aug 2024

Figures & Tables

Hydrogeological cross-section (line of cross-sections shown in Fig. 1).

The extent of the depression cone in the Quaternary aquifers of the Łódź agglomeration as a part of Main Groundwater Reservoir No. 401 (Rodzoch et al. 2013).

Groundwater table of the Quaternary and Upper Cretaceous aquifers in the area of modelling studies.

Hydrogeological cross-sections (lines of cross-sections shown in Fig. 1, explanations to cross-sections shown in Fig. 2).

Table 1.

Basic information about C, E and H pumping wells and observation wells.

Pumping and observation wells	Well name	Well depth	Aquifer stratigraphy	Aquifer lithology	Piezometric water table	Water table
Pumping and observation wells	Well name	[m]	Aquifer stratigraphy	Aquifer lithology	[m b.g.l.]
C	C pumping well	30	Cr₃	limestones	−1.50	13.50
	P-1 observation well	nd	Q	nd	0.59	0.59
	1 observation well	14	Q	sands and gravels	0.90	0.90
	P-2 observation well	nd	Q	nd	0.95	0.95
E	E pumping well	35	Cr₃	limestones	0.86	0.86
	P-5 observation well	17	Q	sands of different granulation	1.46	1.46
	P-6 observation well	18	Q	sands of different granulation	0.91	0.91
	P-7 observation well	18	Q	sands of different granulation	2.30	2.30
H	H pumping well	70	Cr₃	limestones	−4.00	53.50
	P-10 observation well	22	Q	sands and gravels	0.40	0.40
	P-11 observation well	12	Q	sands and gravels	1.00	1.00
	P-15 observation well	18	Q	sands and gravels	1.80	1.80

1 nd – no data.

Observations of the groundwater table level during pumping in the C, E and H wells.

Table 2.

Results of calculations of the filtration parameters of the Upper Cretaceous aquifer based on pumping of the H, C and E wells.

Well	Pumping type	Pumping stage	Discharge rate Q	Stabilized depression s	Conductivity k	Average conductivity k	Depression cone radius during pumping test	Permissible discharge rate Q max
			[m³ · h⁻¹]	[m]	[m · s⁻¹]	[m · s⁻¹]	[m]	[m³ · h⁻¹]
H	one stage	1	39.5	35.73		1.19 · 10⁻⁵	370.1	7
C	one stage	1	100.0	5.63		3.58 · 10⁻⁴	320.0	41
E	three stages	1	24.7	6.80	8.16 · 10⁻⁵	5.53 · 10⁻⁵	168.0	11
		2	40.4	14.90	5.05 · 10⁻⁵		376.0
		3	51.6	24.30	3.37 · 10⁻⁵		612.0

Model structure and boundary conditions: RIVER (blue), WELL (brown), DRAIN (purple), general head boundary (green), 3D view from the south, exaggeration of the vertical scale · 10.

Table 3.

Discharge rate and the depression size for the Ignacew-intake wells.

Well no./ No. According to the Central Hydrogeological Database	Aquifer and its screened part	Exploitable / actual discharge rate	Depression size
	Aquifer and its screened part	[m³ · d⁻¹]	[m]
A1 / 6270670	Cr₃₋1 (upper part)	3871.2 / 3360.0	20.1
A2 / 6270689	Cr₃₋1, Cr₃₋2 (upper and central part)	3508.8 / 3120.0	21.4
A3 / 6270681	Cr₃₋1, Cr₃₋2 (upper and central part)	2805.6 / 2520.0	20.7

Layout of the stream line on the way of water inflow to the Ignacew-intake wells as a result of model research.

Head difference between the Quaternary and the Upper Cretaceous aquifers as a result of flow modelling in conditions of: A – average head without withdrawal; B – average head with actual withdrawal from the POBORY database.

Table 4.

Contents of elements in the sediments of the Ner River (values greater than the average are marked in red)*.

Concentration		Sampling site									Łódź Agglomeration
Element	Unit	H1	H2	H3	E1	E2	E3	C1	C2	C3	max–min (average)**
Ag	ppm	0.38	1.77	0.76	0.48	0.62	0.28	nd	nd	nd	<1–198 (<1)
Al	%	0.02	0.06	0.01	0.02	0.02	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.01	<0.01–3.74 (0.21)
As	ppm	0.66	2.16	1.84	0.77	1.06	0.61	<0.1	<0.1	<0.1	<5–906 (<5)
Ba	ppm	10.08	40.2	8.02	12.96	12.44	5.98	5.92	7.95	7.27	3–484 (42)
Bi	ppm	200	640	76	280	300	66	0.1	<0.1	0.07	nd
Pb	ppm	9.6	40	5.68	11.4	13.26	4.72	2.93	2.12	3.88	<5–10 200 (15)
Br	ppm	56	58	54	66	44	66	<0.1	<0.1	<0.1	nd
Cd	ppm	1.45	1.09	0.64	0.69	1.14	1.19	0.3	0.27	0.42	<0.5–59.6 (0.6)
Ca	%	0.1	0.61	0.05	0.1	0.1	0.06	0.04	0.04	0.04	0.02–16.90 (0.42)
Cr	ppm	27.6	69.6	47.4	32	42.8	36	19.56	18.7	20.2	<1–977 (5)
Co	ppm	0.66	0.68	0.46	0.66	0.72	0.37	0.45	0.29	0.27	<1–46 (2)
Fe	%	0.08	0.22	0.09	0.06	0.08	0.06	0.03	0.07	0.03	0.03–11.80 (0.45)
K	ppm	29	32.4	23	33.2	28.8	18.84	12.51	9.91	12.3	nd
Cu	ppm	10.42	38.6	11.12	14.58	18.68	8.66	5.69	4.62	6.85	<1–1720 (9)
Mg	%	0.01	0.02	<0.01	0.01	0.01	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01–0.92 (0.06)
Mn	ppm	23.2	40.8	4.84	11.02	7.2	6.58	4.73	69.64	5.58	4–2 896 (129)
Mo	ppm	<0.1	0.12	0.3	0.3	0.23	0.12	0.03	<0.1	0	nd
Na	ppm	33.4	48.4	33.6	62.2	36.2	26.2	16.13	16.99	13.29	nd
Ni	ppm	1.4	2.5	1.83	1.63	2.06	0.68	0.96	0.6	0.55	<1–345 (4)
Hg	ppm	0.25	0.74	0.39	0.4	0.45	0.26	nd	nd	nd	<0.05–20.50 (0.06)
Sr	ppm	2.92	14.78	3.84	2.9	2.72	1.36	1.29	2.78	1.58	<1–269 (13)
Ti	ppm	6.56	13.18	3.36	6.26	6.98	3	1.88	1.3	2.67	4–528 (30)
V	ppm	0.9	2.24	0.9	0.95	1.07	0.75	0.32	0.06	0.41	<1–77 (5)
W	ppm	<0.1	<0.1	<0.1	<0.1	<0.1	<0.1	<0.1	<0.1	<0.1	nd
Zn	ppm	58.4	460	89	89.8	132.2	50.2	39.98	34.08	48.57	4–84 900 (64)
Sn	ppm	1.37	6.32	0.8	1.65	1.51	0.54	<0.1	<0.1	<0.1	nd

1* ecotoxicity levels according to McDonald, Ingersoll (2000) and WT-732 2003 are marked with colors: green – level I, yellow – level II, red – level III.

1** after Lis and Pasieczna (1998).

Table 5.

The cation exchange capacity (CEC) estimated by the Breeuwsma formula and sorption capacity determined by the Kappen method.

Sample no.	TOC content	Particle content below 2 μm	CEC	Hydrolytic acidity	BEC	Total sorption capacity
Sample no.	[%]		[cmol₍₊₎ · kg⁻¹]	[cmol_(H+) · kg⁻¹]	[cmol₍₊₎ · kg⁻¹]
H1	0.69	0.00	2.40	0.6	0	0.6
H2	1.30	0.00	4.56	0.68	10	10.68
H3	0.23	0.00	0.81	0.45	0	0.45
E1	1.36	0.00	4.76	1.73	0	1.73
E2	0.72	0.00	2.52	3.23	0	3.23
E3	0.61	0.00	2.13	2.03	0	2.03
C1	0.60	0.00	2.10	0.6	0	0.6
C2	0.19	0.00	0.66	0.45	0	0.45
C3	0.31	0.00	1.09	0.83	0	0.83

Chemical composition of the tested water presented on the Piper diagram.

Chemistry map of groundwater and river and alluvial waters in the H and E profiles (colors consistent with Fig. 11).

Table 6.

Physicochemical properties of the tested water.

Parameter	Units	River water		Water from alluvium									Groundwater			Drinking water*
Parameter	Units	Hr	Er	H1	H2	H3	C1	C2	C3	E1	E2	E3	Q	Ng	Cr₃	Drinking water*
EC	mikroS/cm	1229	1307	479	469	727	681	737	567	745	875	1070	649	676	376	2500
TDS	mg/ dm³	836.6	898.9	332.7	351.17	604.7	498.5	548.9	412.3	548.8	740.9	651.2	503.3	524.7	309.8
Water type		HCO₃-Cl-Ca-Na	Cl-HCO₃-Na-Ca	HCO₃-Cl-SO₄-Ca	HCO₃-Ca	HCO₃-SO₄-Ca	SO₄-HCO₃-Ca	HCO₃-Ca	HCO₃-SO₄-Ca	HCO₃-Cl-Ca	HCO₃-Ca-Na	HCO₃-Ca	HCO₃-SO₄-Ca	HCO₃-Ca-Na	HCO₃-Ca
pH		7.3	6.46	6.5	7	6.89	6.73	7.13	6.59	6.93	6.71	7.11	7.32	7.2	7.45	6.5-9.5
Temp.	st.C	15.1	16.1	15.2	15.6	15.8	16.5	16.9	16.4	15.4	15.4	16.3	15.4	11.3	11.5
Eh	mV	132	−28	−50.1	−116	−66.8	−7.8	−84	−58.6	−63	−56.5	−55	125	−53.5	−66.7
O₂	mg/ dm³	3.13	4.04	1.6	0.72	1.45	1.71	1.93	1.28	1.85	1.34	1.54	1.44	0.09	0.09
SO₄^2-	mg/ dm³	105	115	55	40	125	155	50	100	75	90	60	100	19	8	250
Cl-	mg/ dm³	152.93	192.85	51.69	16.59	13.83	24.96	33.25	24.74	60.97	51.33	101.39	24.04	40.63	5.25	250
NO₃⁻	mg/ dm³	21.83	26.54	7.7	8.56	4.28	22.68	8.13	4.28	5.14	3.85	3.42	5.99	3.42	3.85	50
NH₄⁺	mg/ dm³	2.02	2.24	2.07	0.97	0.45	0.15	2.6	1.83	0.5	2.2	3.84	0.01	0.86	0.36	0.5
PO₄^3-	mg/ dm³	2.9	2.75	0.08	0.48	0.1	0.12	5.6	0.52	0.33	0.06	0.88	0.08	0.06	0.08
Al	mg/ dm³	0.009	0.051	<0,05	0.074	<0,05	0.022	0.002	0.029	0.003	0.069	0.079	<0,05	<0.001	<0,05	0.2
As	mg/ dm³	<0.001	<0,003	0.026	0.006	0.003	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001	0.015	<0,003	<0,003	<0,003	<0.001	<0,003	0.01
Ba	mg/ dm³	0.05	0.06	0.05	0.09	0.24	0.12	0.05	0.14	0.03	0.24	0.12	0.04	0.16	0.06
Be	mg/ dm³	nd	<0.005	<0.005	<0.005	<0.005	nd	nd	nd	nd	<0.005	<0.005	<0.005	nd	<0.005
Bi	mg/ dm³	<0.005	0.09	<0.005	0.1	0.07	<0.005	<0.005	<0.005	<0.005	<0.005	0.04	0.06	<0.005	<0.005
Pb	mg/ dm³	<0.001	0.003	0.002	0.006	0.002	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001	0.013	0.003	0.004	0.002	<0.001	0.002	0.01
Br	mg/ dm³	nd	<1	<1	<1	<1	nd	nd	nd	nd	<1	<1	<1	nd	<1
Cd	mg/dm³	0.0080	0.0008	0.0017	0.0028	0.0069	0.0013	0.0009	0.0011	0.0175	0.0016	0.0012	0.0024	0.0005	0.0008	0.005
Ca	mg/ dm³	104.57	101	56.7	70.3	133	102.44	99.35	83.01	95.23	123	122	100	75.29	62.2
Cr	mg/ dm³	0.005	<0.005	<0.005	0.01	<0.005	0.005	0.005	0.007	0.006	<0.005	0.005	<0.005	0.002	<0.005	0.05
Co	mg/ dm³	<0.005	<0.005	<0.005	<0.005	<0.005	<0.005	<0.005	<0.005	<0.005	<0.005	<0.005	<0.005	<0.005	<0.005
Fe	mg/ dm³	0.04	0.36	3.34	5.26	4.17	1.39	3.19	4.54	0.1	0.75	5.14	<0.02	0.67	0.64	0.2
K	mg/ dm³	14.43	17.6	4.75	2.48	9.34	7.16	3.94	3.39	3.76	13.1	3.07	1.32	4.16	2.52
Cu	mg/ dm³	0.001	<0.005	<0.005	0.005	<0.005	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001	<0.005	<0.005	<0.005	<0.001	<0.005	2
Mg	mg/ dm³	10.64	10.5	5.3	5.43	14.3	9.18	12.76	8.83	7.9	12	11.7	11.9	7.98	6.24	7-125
Mn	mg/ dm³	0.113	0.122	0.361	0.51	0.296	0.32	0.384	0.542	0.002	0.257	0.749	0.088	0.042	0.036	0.05
Mo	mg/ dm³	<0.001	<0.005	<0.005	<0.005	<0.005	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001	0.01	<0.005	<0.005	<0.005	<0.001	<0.005
Na	mg/ dm³	119.29	125	16	7.76	23.2	15.23	26.2	15.62	28.76	72.9	9.52	12.1	48.37	4.94	200
Ni	mg/ dm³	0.009	0.014	0.006	<0.005	<0.005	0.006	0.001	0.005	0.007	0.006	<0.005	<0.005	<0.001	<0.005	0.02
Hg	mg/ dm³	nd	0.0017	0.0004	0.0039	0.0004	nd	nd	nd	nd	0.0003	0.0002	0.0013	nd	0.0001	0.001
Ag	mg/ dm³	nd	<0.005	<0.005	<0.005	<0.005	nd	nd	nd	nd	<0.005	<0.005	<0.005	nd	<0.005	0.01
Si	mg/ dm³	4.7	7.76	7.46	7.38	5.15	3.43	6.16	6.89	3.39	8.52	6.11	4.51	8.14	12.6
Sr	mg/ dm³	0.33	0.4	0.22	0.18	0.43	0.36	0.67	0.37	0.17	1.19	0.33	0.18	2.02	1.38
Ti	mg/ dm³	<0.001	<0.005	<0.005	<0.005	<0.005	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001	<0.005	<0.005	<0.005	<0.001	<0.005
V	mg/ dm³	0.05	<0.004	<0.004	<0.004	<0.004	0.04	0.05	0.04	0.04	<0.004	<0.004	<0.004	0.03	<0.004
W	mg/ dm³	<0.001	<0.005	<0.005	<0.005	<0.005	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001	0.02	<0.005	<0.005	<0.005	<0.001	<0.005
Zn	mg/ dm³	0.06	0.09	0.06	0.06	0.06	0.08	0.05	0.03	0.02	0.05	0.06	0.09	<0.001	0.02
Sn	mg/ dm³	<0.001	<0.005	<0.005	<0.005	<0.005	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001	<0.005	<0.005	<0.005	<0.001	<0.005

1 nd – no data, * red numbers in the table mean values exceeding the permissible ranges for drinking water, the ranges are given in accordance with the Regulation of the Minister of Health of December 7, 2017 on the quality of water intended for human consumption (Journal of Laws of 2017, item 2294); the color scale applies to the quality classification of groundwater bodies according to the Regulation of the Minister of Maritime Economy and Inland Navigation of October 11, 2019 on the criteria and method of assessing the status of groundwater bodies: quality class I – dark green, quality class II – light green, III quality class – yellow, quality class IV – orange, quality class V – red.

Table 7.

Percentage contribution of the speciation of selected elements.

Speciation	River water*	Water from alluvium*	Quaternary aquifer (ZP2 well)	Upper Cretaceous (A2 well)	Speciation	River water*	Water from alluvium*	Quaternary aquifer (ZP2 well)	Upper Cretaceous (A2 well)
Carbon					Magnesium
HCO₃⁻	71.4	70.1	87.1	89.6	Mg²⁺	92.9	91.5	91.8	97.0
CO_2(aq)	26.5	27.5	10.3	8.5	MgSO₄	4.9	5.6	5.8	0.6
CaHCO₃⁺	1.7	1.6	2.0	1.5	MgHCO₃⁺	2.0	2.1	2.3	2.3
MgHCO₃⁺	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.2	MgCl⁺	0.1	0.5	0.1	0.0
NaHCO₃	0.1	0.5	0.1	0.0		MgHPO₄	0.1	0.2	0.0	0.0
CaCO₃	0.0	0.1	0.1	0.1	MgCO₃	0.0	0.1	0.1	0.1
CO₃^2-	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.1	Bismuth
Chlorides					Bi(OH)_3(aq)	94.5	93.3	98.3	98.7
Cl-	99.1	99.1	99.1	99.2	Bi(OH)₂⁺	5.5	6.7	1.7	1.3
CaCl⁺	0.9	0.9	0.9	0.7	Cadmium
Sulfur					Cd²⁺	83.1	70.2	82.5	89.6
SO₄^2-	81.1	81.8	80.7	84.8	CdCl⁺	5.7	18.4	3.3	0.9
CaSO₄	16.3	14.6	16.4	13.3	CdSO_4(aq)	5.2	4.9	6.2	0.7
MgSO₄	2.2	2.1	2.7	1.8	CdHCO₃⁺	4.1	3.6	4.7	4.6
NaSO₄⁻	0.3	1.3	0.1	0.1	CdCO_3(aq)	1.1	1.4	3.1	4.1
KSO₄⁻	0.1	0.1	0.0	0.0	CdHPO_4(aq)	0.6	1.1	0.1	0.1
NH₄SO₄⁻	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.0	Cd(SO₄)₂^2-	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.0
Sodium					CdCl_2(aq)	0.0	0.3	0.0	0.0
Na⁺	99.4	99.3	99.3	99.5	CdNO₃⁺	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.0
NaHCO₃	0.4	0.4	0.5	0.5	Copper
NaSO₄⁻	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.0	Cu²⁺	68.0	64.8	44.9	46.2
Potassium					CuOH⁺	30.7	32.1	55.0	53.5
K⁺	99.7	99.6	99.6	100.0	CuHPO₄	1.0	2.6	0.1	0.1
KSO₄⁻	0.3	0.4	0.4	0.0	CuNH3²⁺	0.2	0.3	0.0	0.1
Calcium					CuCl⁺	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.0
Ca²⁺	90.6	88.3	89.3	95.5	Chrome
CaSO₄	5.8	6.5	6.9	0.7	CrO₄^2-	73.0	72.7	89.6	91.5
CaHCO₃⁺	2.9	3.0	3.3	3.4	HCrO₄⁻	27.0	27.3	10.4	8.5
CaCl⁺	0.4	1.7	0.3	0.1	Mercury
CaCO₃	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.3	HgCl₂	85.5	57.3	91.4	97.9
CaHPO₄	0.1	0.2	0.0	0.0	HgCl₃⁻	14.5	42.7	8.6	2.1
CaNO₃⁺	0.1	0.2	0.0	0.0	Lead
					PbCO₃	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0

1* average content.

Cumulative concentration curves of selected microelements in water (n = 14).

References

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Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.14746/quageo-2024-0024 | Journal eISSN: 2081-6383 | Journal ISSN: 2082-2103 (formerly 0137-477X)

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Language: English

Page range: 21 - 45

Submitted on: Jul 19, 2023

Published on: Aug 14, 2024

Published by: Adam Mickiewicz University

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Keywords:

Ner river valley,

changes in hydrodynamic balance,

chemistry of river water,

chemistry of alluvial water and groundwater,

active wells

Related subjects:

Geosciences,

Geography

© 2024 Ewa Krogulec, Jerzy J. Małecki, Marzena Szostakiewicz-Hołownia, Joanna Trzeciak, Sebastian Zabłocki, Maciej Ziułkiewicz, published by Adam Mickiewicz University
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Volume 43 (2024): Issue 3 (September 2024)

Identification of River Valley Areas Threatening the Chemical Status of Groundwater, in the Example of the Upper Course of the Ner River Basin, Central Poland

Figures & Tables

Fig. 1.

Fig. 2.

Fig. 3.

Fig. 4.

Fig. 5.

Table 1.

Fig. 6.

Table 2.

Fig. 7.

Fig. 8.

Table 3.

Fig. 9.

Fig. 10.

Table 4.

Table 5.

Fig. 11.

Fig. 12.

Table 6.

Table 7.

Fig. 13.

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