title: Understanding the fate of sanitation-related nutrients in a shallow sandy aquifer below an urban slum area.
abstract: We hypothesized that wastewater leaching from on-site sanitation systems to alluvial aquifers underlying informal settlements (or slums) may end up contributing to high nutrient loads to surface water upon groundwater exfiltration. Hence, we conducted a hydro-geochemical study in a shallow sandy aquifer in Bwaise III parish, an urban slum area in Kampala, Uganda, to assess the geochemical processes controlling the transport and fate of dissolved nutrients (NO3, NH4 and PO4) released from on-site sanitation systems to groundwater. Groundwater was collected from 26 observation wells. The samples were analyzed for major ions (Ca, Mg, Na, Mg, Fe, Mn, Cl and SO4) and nutrients (o-PO4, NO3 and NH4). Data was also collected on soil characteristics, aquifer conductivity and hydraulic heads. Geochemical modeling using PHREEQC was used to determine the level of o-PO4 control by mineral solubility and sorption. Groundwater below the slum area was anoxic and had near neutral pH values, high values of EC (average of 1619μS/cm) and high concentrations of Cl (3.2mmol/L), HCO3 (11mmol/L) and nutrients indicating the influence from wastewater leachates especially from pit latrines. Nutrients were predominantly present as NH4 (1-3mmol/L; average of 2.23mmol/L). The concentrations of NO3 and o-PO4 were, however, low: average of 0.2mmol/L and 6μmol/L respectively. We observed a contaminant plume along the direction of groundwater flow (NE-SW) characterized by decreasing values of EC and Cl, and distinct redox zones. The redox zones transited from NO3-reducing in upper flow areas to Fe-reducing in the lower flow areas. Consequently, the concentrations of NO3 decreased downgradient of the flow path due to denitrification. Ammonium leached directly into the alluvial aquifer was also partially removed because the measured concentrations were less than the potential input from pit latrines (3.2mmol/L). We attributed this removal (about 30%) to anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) given that the cation exchange capacity of the aquifer was low (<6meq/100g) to effectively adsorb NH4. Phosphate transport was, on the other hand, greatly retarded and our results showed that this was due to the adsorption of P to calcite and the co-precipitation of P with calcite and rhodochrosite. Our findings suggest that shallow alluvial sandy aquifers underlying urban slum areas are an important sink of excessive nutrients leaching from on-site sanitation systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Water Science and Engineering, UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, P. O. Box 3015, Delft, The Netherlands. Electronic address: p.nyenje@unesco-ihe.org.
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Nyenje
authors.affiliation: Utrecht University, Faculty of Geosciences, P.O. Box 80125, 3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: J C N
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Havik
authors.affiliation: Department of Water Science and Engineering, UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, P. O. Box 3015, Delft, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Foppen
authors.affiliation: Makerere University, P.O. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Muwanga
authors.affiliation: Makerere University, P.O. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kulabako
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D060587:Groundwater / Q000737:chemistry*; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D011204:Poverty Areas; D014038:Toilet Facilities; D014454:Uganda; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods; D062065:Wastewater / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D009584:Nitrogen; D010758:Phosphorus; D062065:Wastewater; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Eutrophication; Nutrients; Shallow groundwater; Slums; Transport