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Nitrate, Sulphate and Chloride Contents in Public Drinking Water Supplies in Sicily, Italy

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Nitrate, Sulphate and Chloride Contents in Public Drinking Water Supplies in Sicily, Italy Environ Monit Assess (2012) 184:2845–2855 DOI 10.1007/s10661-011-2155-y Nitrate, sulphate and chloride contents in public drinking water supplies in Sicily, Italy Walter D’Alessandro · Sergio Bellomo · Francesco Parello · Pietro Bonfanti · Lorenzo Brusca · Manfredi Longo · Roberto Maugeri Received: 9 April 2010 / Accepted: 25 May 2011 / Published online: 30 June 2011 © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011 Abstract Water samples collected from public maximum admissible concentration of 50 mg/l. drinking water supplies in Sicily were analysed Anomalous samples always came from areas of for electric conductivity and for their chloride, intensive agricultural usage, indicating a clear an- sulphate and nitrate contents. The samples were thropogenic origin. The same parameters were collected as uniformly as possible from through- also measured in bottled water sold in Sicily, and out the Sicilian territory, with an average sam- they all were within the ranges for public drinking pling density of about one sample for every 7,600 water supplies. The calculated mean nitrate intake inhabitants. Chloride contents that ranged from from consuming public water supplies (16.1 mg/l) 5.53 to 1,302 mg/l were correlated strongly with did not differ significantly from that of bottled electric conductivity, a parameter used as a proxy water (15.2 mg/l). Although the quality of public for water salinity. The highest values are attribut- water supplies needs to be improved by elimi- able to seawater contamination along the coasts nating those that do not comply with the current of the island. High chloride and sulphate values drinking water limits, at present it does not justify attributable to evaporitic rock dissolution were the high consumption of bottled water (at least for found in the central part of Sicily. The nitrate nitrate contents). concentrations ranged from 0.05 to 296 mg/l, with 31 samples (4.7% of the total) exceeding the Keywords Public water supplies · Nitrate · Sulphate · Chloride · Sicily Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10661-011-2155-y) contains Introduction supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. The deterioration of drinking water quality is W. D’Alessandro (B) · S. Bellomo · P. Bonfanti · a widespread problem in highly populated, arid · · L. Brusca M. Longo R. Maugeri and semi-arid regions. The climate in one such Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione di Palermo, via La Malfa 153, 90146, region, the Mediterranean (referred to as the Palermo, Italy Mediterranean climate), is characterized by long, e-mail: [email protected] hot and dry summer periods (from May to September) and a mild rainy winter season. F. Parello Dipartimento CFTA, Università di Palermo, The continuing population growth and inten- via Archirafi 36, 90123, Palermo, Italy sive agricultural usage are substantially increasing 2846 Environ Monit Assess (2012) 184:2845–2855 water consumption. This problem is further exac- the effective meteoric recharge is still higher than erbated by the expansion of the tourist industry in the total water demand. However, the uneven Mediterranean coastal areas, which increases the distribution of the resource (Fig. 1c) and its very water demand during the driest period of the year poor management in recent decades have led to (Kondili and Kaldellis 2006). occasional severe water shortages in many parts The island of Sicily is in the central part of of the island. The main problems arise from the the Mediterranean Sea and has a long settlement distribution network, some parts of which lose history despite often experiencing water short- more than 50% of the transported water (38% on ages. With more than 5 million inhabitants, it average), but there are also water quality issues has one of the highest population densities in the due to salinization and contamination of some of region at 193 inhabitants per square kilometre. the aquifers (Ferrara 1991; Aiuppa et al. 2003; The average annual rainfall is about 600 mm, and D’Alessandro et al. 2011). Such problems mean ranges from less than 400 to about 1,200 mm. that about 40% of households in Sicily to experi- Some studies have found evidence for a decline ence irregularities in water distribution, compared of about 100 mm rainfall during the last century to an Italian national average of about 16%, and (Brunetti et al. 2004). Despite such negative trend, more than 63% have concerns about the quality (a) (c) ME TP PA CT EN population >500,000 (1) >100,000 AG (2) (3) >50,000 no sample CL >10,000 SR (4) >5000 <5000 sample RG (5) (b) (d) CA MTB 38˚N EV CB 400 mm 50 km 500 mm 600 mm HP 700 mm 800 mm 37˚N 1000 mm 1200 mm 1400 mm 13˚E 14˚E 15˚E Fig. 1 Study area. a Administrative subdivision of Sicily Volcano). Outcrops of evaporitic rocks are evidenced in into nine provinces (AG Agrigento, CL Caltanissetta, CT green. c Map of the main aquifers: (1) aquifers in carstic Catania, EN Enna, ME Messina, PA Palermo, RG Ragusa, and/or fractured carbonate rocks, (2) aquifers in volcanic SR Siracusa, TP Trapani) and population distribution; rocks, (3) coastal aquifers in calcarenites, (4) aquifers in symbol dimension is proportional to the population of arenaceous rocks within big clastic sequences, (5) aquifers each municipality (circles represent municipalities where in metamorphic rocks (Regione Siciliana 2005). d Geo- at least one sample was collected, while squares repre- graphic distribution of rainfall heights in grey tones and sent those where no sample was collected). b Geologic map of groundwater vulnerability to nitrates of agricultural sketch (HP Hyblean Plateau, CB Caltanissetta Basin, MTB origin in red (Regione Siciliana 1998, 2005) Maghrebian Thrust Belt, CA Calabrian Arc, EV Mt. Etna Environ Monit Assess (2012) 184:2845–2855 2847 of tap water (compared to a national average of industrial and agricultural wastewater. Different about 45%) (ISTAT 2003). These factors have led origins of these contaminants have often been to a high consumption of bottled water; although distinguished on the basis of their bromide-to- this remains somewhat lower than the national chloride ratio (Davis et al. 1998). average—about 82% of Sicilians state that they at No health-based GVs have been proposed by least sometimes drink bottled water, compared to the WHO for sulphate and chloride in drinking a national average of about 87% (ISTAT 2003). water (WHO 2004). However, concentrations in Nitrate originating mainly from organic matter excess of about 250 mg/l for both anions can give decay is generally a minor constituent (10 mg/l) rise to detectable taste in water. Therefore, the of unpolluted natural water (Nolan 1999). Dis- Italian national law set a GV of 250 mg/l for both solution of nitrogen-containing natural inorganic parameters. compounds rarely contributes to the chemistry of The present work was performed within the natural water (Holloway et al. 2001). The high framework of a wider study to test the quality rates of nitrogen fertilization, particularly on per- of drinking water distributed to public supplies in meable soils with shallow water tables, result in Sicily. In this paper, we report on four parameters the concentration of nitrate in groundwater be- (electric conductivity, nitrate, sulphate and chlo- ing significantly higher than background levels in ride) measured in 667 samples collected through- many agricultural areas. How nitrate influences out the Sicilian territory. Data on chloride and human health is strongly debated (Powlson et electric conductivity have been previously pre- al. 2008). The maximum admissible concentration sented together with fluoride and bromide data (MAC) in most countries is within the range of (D’Alessandro et al. 2008), and are used here to 45–50 mg/l. Also, the World Health Organiza- make useful comparisons. tion (WHO) indicates a guideline value (GV) of The nitrate content (in addition to other pa- 50 mg/l for drinking water (WHO 2004), which rameters) was also measured in the most widely has been integrated into Italian national law as consumed brands of bottled water on the Sicilian a MAC. A high nitrate concentration is always market, in order to compare nitrate intakes of the related to anthropogenic contamination, the main Sicilian population between public water supplies sources being fertilizers and human or animal and bottled water. bodily waste (Spalding and Exner 1993). Nitrate can be the main anionic species in both agricul- tural and urban areas. Recent scientific literature Study area and methods indicates that high concentrations of nitrate could even exert beneficial effects on human health Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean (L’hirondel and L’hirondel 2002), but it remains Sea, and has a total surface area of 25,708 km2. an undesirable component because it is often ac- From a geological point of view it represents part companied by more dangerous constituents such of the south-verging branch of the Apennine– as microorganisms and pesticides. Furthermore, Maghrebian orogenic belt made up of a pile of the large input of nitrate can change the redox nappes derived from the deformation of different state of groundwater to favour the release of toxic Meso-Cenozoic domains resulting from the colli- elements from soils and aquifer rocks into the sion of the African and Eurasian tectonic plates. groundwater (Böhlke 2002) and cause eutroph- The main geolithological domains of the island are ication of surface water bodies fed by polluted (Fig. 1b) (a) the Hyblean Plateau, representing groundwater (Howarth et al. 2000). the undeformed foreland that is made up of a Sulphate and chloride are major constituents thick succession of carbonate, clastic and volcanic of natural water that are generally good tracers rocks (Trias-Quaternary), (b) the Caltanissetta of the sources responsible for increases in salin- basin, a Neogene-Quaternary accretionary wedge ity.
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