Groundwater Impacts on Urban Surface Water Quality in the Lowland Polder Catchments of the Amsterdam City Area

Abstract:

Surface water quality in the Amsterdam area is suffering from high nutrient levels. The sources and transport mechanisms of these nutrients are unclear due to the complex hydrology of the highly manipulated urban and sub-urban polder catchments. This study aimed at identifying the impact of groundwater on surface water quality in the polder catchments of the greater Amsterdam city area. Therefore, we exploited the dense groundwater and surface water monitoring networks to explain spatial patterns in surface water chemistry and their relations with landscape characteristics and groundwater impact. We selected and statistically analyzed 23 variables for 144 polders, covering a total area of 700 km². Our dataset includes concentrations of total-N, total-P, ammonium, nitrate, bicarbonate, sulfate, calcium, and chloride in surface water and groundwater, seepage rate, elevation, paved area percentage, surface water area percentage, and soil type (calcite, humus and clay percentages). Our results show that nutrient levels in groundwater were generally much higher than in surface water and often exceeded the surface water Environmental Quality Standards (EQSs). This indicates that groundwater is a large potential source of nutrients in surface water. High correlations (R² up to 0.88) between solutes in both water compartments and close similarities in their spatial patterns confirmed the large impact of groundwater on surface water quality. Groundwater appeared to be a major source of chloride, bicarbonate and calcium in surface water and for N and P, leading to exceeding of EQSs in surface waters. In dry periods, the artificial redistribution of excess seepage water from deep polders to supply water to infiltrating polders further distributes the N and P loads delivered by groundwater over the area.