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Groundwater Flow Processes and Human Impact along the Arid US-Mexican Border, Evidenced by Environmental Tracers: The Case of Tecate, Baja California

With the increasing population, urbanization and industry in the arid area of Tecate, there is a concomitant increase in contaminants being introduced into the Tecate River and its aquifer. This contamination is damaging the usable groundwater supply and making local residents and commercial enterpr...

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Autores principales: Mahlknecht, Jürgen, Daessle, Luis Walter, Esteller, Maria Vicenta, Torres-Martinez, Juan Antonio, Mora, Abrahan
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5981926/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29710847
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15050887
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author Mahlknecht, Jürgen
Daessle, Luis Walter
Esteller, Maria Vicenta
Torres-Martinez, Juan Antonio
Mora, Abrahan
author_facet Mahlknecht, Jürgen
Daessle, Luis Walter
Esteller, Maria Vicenta
Torres-Martinez, Juan Antonio
Mora, Abrahan
author_sort Mahlknecht, Jürgen
collection PubMed
description With the increasing population, urbanization and industry in the arid area of Tecate, there is a concomitant increase in contaminants being introduced into the Tecate River and its aquifer. This contamination is damaging the usable groundwater supply and making local residents and commercial enterprises increasingly dependent on imported water from the Colorado River basin. In this study we apply a suite of chemical and isotopic tracers in order to evaluate groundwater flow and assess contamination trends. Groundwater recharge occurs through mountain-block and mountain-front recharge at higher elevations of the ranges. Groundwater from the unconfined, alluvial aquifer indicates recent recharge and little evolution. The increase in salinity along the flow path is due to interaction with weathering rock-forming silicate minerals and anthropogenic sources such as urban wastewater, residual solids and agricultural runoff from fertilizers, livestock manure and/or septic tanks and latrines. A spatial analysis shows local differences and the impact of the infiltration of imported waters from the Colorado River basin. The general trend of impaired water quality has scarcely been documented in the last decades, but it is expected to continue. Since the groundwater system is highly vulnerable, it is necessary to protect groundwater sources.
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spelling pubmed-59819262018-06-07 Groundwater Flow Processes and Human Impact along the Arid US-Mexican Border, Evidenced by Environmental Tracers: The Case of Tecate, Baja California Mahlknecht, Jürgen Daessle, Luis Walter Esteller, Maria Vicenta Torres-Martinez, Juan Antonio Mora, Abrahan Int J Environ Res Public Health Article With the increasing population, urbanization and industry in the arid area of Tecate, there is a concomitant increase in contaminants being introduced into the Tecate River and its aquifer. This contamination is damaging the usable groundwater supply and making local residents and commercial enterprises increasingly dependent on imported water from the Colorado River basin. In this study we apply a suite of chemical and isotopic tracers in order to evaluate groundwater flow and assess contamination trends. Groundwater recharge occurs through mountain-block and mountain-front recharge at higher elevations of the ranges. Groundwater from the unconfined, alluvial aquifer indicates recent recharge and little evolution. The increase in salinity along the flow path is due to interaction with weathering rock-forming silicate minerals and anthropogenic sources such as urban wastewater, residual solids and agricultural runoff from fertilizers, livestock manure and/or septic tanks and latrines. A spatial analysis shows local differences and the impact of the infiltration of imported waters from the Colorado River basin. The general trend of impaired water quality has scarcely been documented in the last decades, but it is expected to continue. Since the groundwater system is highly vulnerable, it is necessary to protect groundwater sources. MDPI 2018-04-30 2018-05 /pmc/articles/PMC5981926/ /pubmed/29710847 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15050887 Text en © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Mahlknecht, Jürgen
Daessle, Luis Walter
Esteller, Maria Vicenta
Torres-Martinez, Juan Antonio
Mora, Abrahan
Groundwater Flow Processes and Human Impact along the Arid US-Mexican Border, Evidenced by Environmental Tracers: The Case of Tecate, Baja California
title Groundwater Flow Processes and Human Impact along the Arid US-Mexican Border, Evidenced by Environmental Tracers: The Case of Tecate, Baja California
title_full Groundwater Flow Processes and Human Impact along the Arid US-Mexican Border, Evidenced by Environmental Tracers: The Case of Tecate, Baja California
title_fullStr Groundwater Flow Processes and Human Impact along the Arid US-Mexican Border, Evidenced by Environmental Tracers: The Case of Tecate, Baja California
title_full_unstemmed Groundwater Flow Processes and Human Impact along the Arid US-Mexican Border, Evidenced by Environmental Tracers: The Case of Tecate, Baja California
title_short Groundwater Flow Processes and Human Impact along the Arid US-Mexican Border, Evidenced by Environmental Tracers: The Case of Tecate, Baja California
title_sort groundwater flow processes and human impact along the arid us-mexican border, evidenced by environmental tracers: the case of tecate, baja california
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5981926/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29710847
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15050887
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