Grey water footprint assessment of groundwater resources in southeastern Turkey: effect of recharge

Abstract

This paper aimed to determine the grey water footprint (GWF) of groundwater resources. The effect of groundwater recharge on grey water footprint was investigated in Southeastern Turkey. In this paper, GWF has been monitored in October and March in terms of nitrate and arsenic concentrations for ten observation wells in the Harran Plain. In this study, a new approach was developed based on the GWF to determine the nitrate and arsenic pollution of groundwater. GWF of coagulation-flocculation and biochar adsorption processes were calculated and benchmarked with each other. In the second stage of the study, the effect of groundwater recharge using reclaimed municipal wastewater on GWF was investigated applying Monte Carlo simulation. The results revealed that nitrate led to higher GWF. According to the results, biochar application could reduce the GWF. Total reduction of GWF would be approximately 64.3% if groundwater recharge using reclaimed wastewater is applied. HIGHLIGHT The novelty of this study is that a new estimation model has been adapted for grey water footprint of groundwater resources. The other originality of this work is biochar application for groundwater treatment. Biochar application was carried out to treat groundwater in order to observe the GWF. Urfa Isot pepper, which is a traditional crop of Turkey, was used to generate biochar with slow pyrolysis.;

Keywords

• biochar
• groundwater
• grey water footprint
• harran plain
• monte carlo simulation
• recharge