Groundwater quality monitoring and assessment are the first step of policy framework and water resources management. Therefore, the observed water quality data is subject to statistical analysis and graphical simulation to get the underlying scientific information. During this process, the plausible sources of contamination are identified and efforts are made to reduce / remove of the degree of spread of contamination to groundwater bodies. For example, elevated levels of orthophosphate in groundwater could be attributed to fertilizer application. Similar, what are natural, anthropogenic and agricultural sources of cations, anions, trace elements in groundwater resources ? Additionally, whether a group of contaminants can be ascribed to a particular source ?
To ascribe a group of contaminant to a particular source will require you conducting a principal component analysis. This analysis will help you group the based on component loading and you ascribe the sources
Yes, ferlizers lead to elevated levels of phosphates in water and also geology of the area can result in elevated values of Iron or flouride in water.
Nitrogen isotopes (d15N) in coastal environment act in two ways depending the nitrogen source. Sewage discharges are related to increasing d15N values, while agricultural discharges are related with decreases in d15N. The interpretation depends a lot with the hydrology, sampling and environmental conditions.
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