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Updated: Jun 23, 2026

Integrated Field Lysimetry and Porewater Sampling for Evaluation of Chemical Mobility in Soils and Established Vegetation
Published on: July 4, 2014
Sulfamethoxazole contamination of a deep phreatic aquifer
Dror Avisar1, Yaal Lester, Daniel Ronen
1The Hydro-chemistry Laboratory, The Department of Geography and the Environmental Studies, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel. droravi@post.tau.ac.il
Abstract:
Groundwater samples were obtained from the water table region of a phreatic aquifer (unsaturated zone depth up to 28 m) under land irrigated with wastewater effluents for about 5 decades and a relatively deep pumping well (109 m), used as a drinking water source till 2007, located downstream (1300 m) of wastewater effluent and sludge infiltration facilities. Sulfamethoxazole (SMX) concentrations in secondary effluents varied between 90 and 150 ng/L. SMX was extracted using SPE and was analyzed by HPLC-MS/MS. SMX (maximum concentration of 37 ng/L) was detected in the water table region, in two monitoring wells, after an unsaturated zone transport period of about 16 years. The maximum SMX concentration detected in the pumping well was of 20 ng/L. These results question wastewater effluent disposal strategies including the suitability of irrigation with effluents on the replenishment area of an aquifer supplying drinking water.
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