Chromium in surface water and groundwater in the sourrounding area of a tannery: relationships with water quality baseline, Elena, Córdoba. Argentina
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21701/bolgeomin.120.4.009Keywords:
baseline values, Chromium, Elena (Argentina), groundwater, tanneryAbstract
The basin of the El Barreal stream is a dominantly rural area in which groundwater is used for all activities whereas the stream is used as sink of residues and effluents. The existence of a tannery, which discharge the effluents into a wetland (which is drained by the stream), reveals the need to study the presence of Chromium in surface and groundwater and to compare values derived from pollution with those corresponding to the natural water baseline values. Fifty three samples of surface and groundwater were abstracted and chemical analyses were made, including total Chromium in water and plants. The chemical analysis results were studied by means of conventional and statistical techniques. The local and regional geological characteristics allow us to interpret that Chromium in water is derived from source minerals, being possible to stand out that high values probably are related to nearby serpentinite bodies.The values of total chrome in surface and groundwater are included in the natural quality baseline range calculated for this basin (0,25-5μg/L), exempting those samples with higher values linked to sites with farming activities and to the wetland environment where the Chromium effluent is discharged. In the last place, Chromium was retained in soil and plants whereas the aquifer was affected by a contaminant plume of total dissolved solids because of advective-dispersive transport. In the 2009 monitoring survey, a small increase of Chromium in groundwater was detected in relation to that of 2005, being assumed that parcial desorption of Chromium is taking place from the solid phase.
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Fondo para la Investigación Científica y Tecnológica
Grant numbers PICT 562/06
