Risk assessment framework for nitrate contamination in groundwater for regional management

Nitrate pollution in groundwater is now one of the most important environmental problems all over the world. For this purpose, a new framework for risk screening and assessment of groundwater nitrate was proposed according to source-pathway-receptor-response model to provide basic for defining environmental management strategies. The framework is composed of groundwater relative risk model (RRM), groundwater contamination risk assessment (CRA), and human health risk assessment (HHRA). The framework is applied in the lower Liaohe river basin plain, northeast of China. The results showed that the priority area with high groundwater relative risk in study area was successfully screened by RRM. Furthermore, the sites with high human health risk for public by groundwater nitrate were selected as hazardous areas. This framework promotes systematic integration of risk assessment of groundwater nitrate and expands traditional research on groundwater management from a scale-based approach to crucial insights into pollution.