ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT: We made an inventory of nitrate (NO3-N) enrichment in surface and groundwater systems in theHooghly district ofWest Bengal, India owing to intensive farmingwith high fertilizer doses as a function of quantity of fertilizers use, soil characteristics, types of crop grown, depth of groundwater sampling and also N-load in soil profiles. Water samples were collected from different sources at 70 odd sites spread over in 17 blocks of the district alongwith representative soil profiles. TheNO3-Ncontent both in surface and groundwater varied from0.10mg/L to 3.24mg/L, beingwell below the threshold limit of 10 mg/L fixed by WHO for drinking purpose. The content decreased with increasing depth of wells (r = −0.29∗) and clay content of soil profiles (r = −0.51∗). It, however, increased with increasing rate of fertilizer application (r = 0.91∗∗), NO3-N load in soil profiles (r = 0.509∗) and was higher in areas where shallow-rather than deep-rooted crops are grown.