Stable Isotope and Chloride Boron Study for Traci

Authors: E Dotsika D Poutoukis J L Michelot W Kloppmann

Publish Date: 2006/07/01

Volume: 174, Issue: 1-4, Pages: 19-32

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Abstract

Boron is biologically an essential element but is toxic at high concentrations to plants above approximately 1 mg/L in irrigation water and probably to humans The EU Drinking Water Directive fixes a threshold of 1 mg/L and the World Health Organisation WHO set a recommended limit at 03 mg/L now increased to 05 mg/L Because of this potential toxicity and the need of implementation of EU regulation on national level the study of the boron levels in both ground and surface water is of great significance for water managementIn Greece a significant number of thermal mineral and superficial water springs are found especially in Northern Greece that present high boron values rendering such water unacceptable according to the European standards Nevertheless such ground waters or borehole water with high temperature and high boron content are used for irrigation and drinking purposes and could therefore have an antagonistic effect on crop yield and healthIn order to study the boron contamination and to elucidate the origin of B we collected a number of hot and fresh water all over Greece In all the water sampled the boron concentration exceeds the limit of 03 mg/L which is the former recommended WHO limit Moreover in the irrigation water examined the boron concentration exceeds the value of 075 mg/L which is the limit for sensitive plants for plants of moderate and plants of high tolerance these values vary between 075–3 and 3 mg/L respectivelyIn all cases elevated boron could be attributed to natural sources geothermal activity and/or seawater intrusion into the aquifers This finding has important implications for water management In a setting of high natural geochemical background values source control of the pollution is not possible and water managers have to cope with a local to regional geochemical anomaly that implies boron specific water treatment or mixing with unpolluted resources to bring concentrations down

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