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- Info
The impact of residential urban areas on groundwater quality: Swan coastal plain, Western Australia
| Author: |
Gerritse, R.G.; Barber, C.; Adeney, J.A. |
| Date: |
1990 |
| Periodical: |
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Water Resources Series No 3 |
| Abstract: |
The effect of urbanization on a wide range of parameters for groundwater quality was investigated along a north-south transect on Bassendean Sands in Perth, Western Australia. Groundwater was sampled from both recently developed and well established sewered and unsewered urban residential areas. Results are compared with those from studies on the quality of groundwater in urban residential areas in Perth on Spearwood Sands. Groundwater quality is affected in all urban residential areas to some extent by increased levels of salts. Concentrations of critical compounds in all samples of groundwater from the Bassendean Sands are well below maximum levels set for drinking water standards. The sandy soil/aquifer system has a much higher retention capacity for pollutants than expected. As conditions in groundwater under Bassendean Sands are ideal for microbial denitrification to take place, nitrate concentrations in groundwater are much lower than calculated from input data. In Spearwood Sands, conditions are less suitable for denitrifying bacteria and nitrate concentrations in groundwater are significantly higher than in Bassendean Sands. Low levels of volatile organics in groundwater appear to be in diffusional equilibrium with levels in the urban atmosphere. In only one locality were higher levels detected. The long term impact of urban residential areas on the quality of groundwater cannot be predicted with the data from this study alone. Additional information on attenuation of contaminants in soils and aquifers is required. This information will have to be obtained from both laboratory and field scale adsorption and degradation studies. |
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