Daren C Gooddy

British Geological Survey, Wallingford

Characterising groundwater recharge is fundamental for sustainable groundwater management. This study focuses on assessing recharge in drylands using four experimental plots under different land-use practices in crystalline basement aquifers in three southern African countries (Chitedze in Malawi, Kabeleka and Liempe in Zambia, and Domboshawa in Zi...

Groundwater is consumed by over 2 billion people globally, though it can be impacted by microbial and chemical contamination in both rural and (peri-)urban areas. This issue is particularly pertinent in regions like East Africa, where rapid urbanisation has strained local infrastructure, including water and sanitation systems. We use selected trace...

Groundwater under urban areas faces numerous sources of potential contamination, including the presence of antimicrobial-laden wastes (Zainab et al., 2020). Worryingly, the use of antimicrobials has resulted in the emergence and transfer of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in pathogenic bacteria found in groundwater which may be used as drinking...

The relationship between δ18O and δ15N in aquatic nitrate (NO3−) is used to assess nitrogen (N) cycling, primarily relying on controlled laboratory tests of isotope fractionation from nitrification and denitrification. Nevertheless, laboratory findings frequently contradict the evolution of the nitrate δ18O/δ15N ratios observed in natural river sys...

The distribution and composition of dissolved organic matter (DOM) affects numerous (bio)geochemical processes in environmental matrices including groundwater. This study reports the spatial and seasonal controls on the distribution of groundwater DOM under the rapidly developing city of Patna, Bihar (India). Major DOM constituents were determined...

Phosphorus (P) is a vital element for crop production but excessive amounts in freshwaters can lead to eutrophic conditions. Although a suite of regulations on the concentration of P in rivers exist under the EU Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) and EU Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), there is a limited understanding on the natural baseline con...

Excessive phosphorus (P) loadings cause major pollution concerns in large catchments. Quantifying the point and nonpoint P sources of large catchments is essential for catchment P management. Although phosphate oxygen isotopes (δ18O(PO4)) can reveal P sources and P cycling in catchments, quantifying multiple P sources in a whole catchment should be...

The presence and distribution of emerging organic contaminants (EOCs) in freshwater environments is a key issue in India and globally, particularly due to ecotoxicological and potential antimicrobial resistance concerns. Here we have investigated the composition and spatial distribution of EOCs in surface water along a ∼500 km segment of the iconic...

Human activity has led to excess phosphorus (P) concentrations and the continued eutrophication of coastal and freshwaters across the United States (US). Developing more effective P management policy requires a comprehensive understanding of P sources in the environment. Public water systems across the United States widely dose water with phosphate...

In 2022 BGS was commissioned by Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water (DCWW) to undertake desk and field investigations to develop a conceptual understanding of the contribution of groundwater to streamflow during drought in the Afon Fathew, Wales. This report details the findings of these investigations. In addition to a desk study, two field visits were complete...

The concept of aquifer basins as palaeoclimate archives has existed for some decades, yet few detailed studies comparing aquifer types have been carried out. To assess the potential of a particular aquifer as an archive, its hydrogeochemical characteristics must be thoroughly investigated, ideally in comparison to an adjacent aquifer which can be s...

This study investigates the link between recharge environment, vadose zone thickness and redox chemistry in a coastal aquifer. Water sampling and multiparameter profiling was conducted in a network of observation wells on North Andros, Bahamas, a large low-lying island with a complex stratified karstified aquifer and diverse recharge environments....

Keywords Groundwater, declining water levels, contaminations, resource management, Punjab Synopsis Groundwater is the largest freshwater storage accounting for about 99% of our liquid fresh water and is crucial for the sustenance of surface water bodies such as rivers and lakes and also wetlands and ecological systems, these are also called its man...

Phosphorus (P) is a key element which can contribute to the eutrophication of waters draining intensively farmed or populated catchments, driving adverse impacts on ecosystem and human health. An often overlooked source of P in permeable catchments is weathering of P-bearing minerals in bedrock. P release from primary minerals, present when the roc...

The unsaturated zone is a globally important, dynamic water store, which affects water resources, agriculture and pollutant transport. Despite this, the magnitude of unsaturated zone water storage remains highly uncertain. This work provides the first global estimates of the magnitude of this store (1.0 x10 ⁵ km ³ ) in comparison to recent estimate...

Excessive nutrient concentrations within fresh waters are a globally persistent problem. Developing effective nutrient management strategies requires improvements to nitrogen (N) mass balances, including the identification and quantification of previously unrecognized anthropogenic N fluxes. Using publicly available data, we establish that freshwat...

Accurately tracing the sources and fate of excess PO4³⁻ in waterways is necessary for sustainable catchment management. The natural abundance isotopic composition of O in PO4³⁻ (δ¹⁸OP) is a promising tracer of point source pollution, but its ability to track diffuse agricultural pollution is unclear. We tested the hypothesis that δ¹⁸OP could distin...

Study region Patna is located on the southern bank of the River Ganges in Bihar, India. Rapid population growth over the past few decades has driven an increase in groundwater abstraction from aquifers under the city. Study focus This study exeplores the pumping-induced water exchange between the River Ganges and groundwater under transient condit...

Weathered basement aquifers are vital sources of drinking water in Africa. In order to better understand their role in the urban water balance, in a weathered basement aquifer in Kampala, Uganda, this study installed a transect of monitoring piezometers, carried out spring flow and high-frequency groundwater level monitoring, slug tests and hydroch...

Large river systems, such as the River Ganges (Ganga), provide crucial water resources for the environment and society, yet often face significant challenges associated with cumulative impacts arising from upstream environmental and anthropogenic influences. Understanding the complex dynamics of such systems remains a major challenge, especially gi...

Groundwater resources in the crystalline basement complex of India are crucial for supplying drinking water in both rural and urban settings. Groundwater depletion is recognised as a challenge across parts of India due to over-abstraction, but groundwater quality constraints are perhaps even more widespread and often overlooked at the local scale....

Streams and rivers are globally important in the carbon and nitrogen cycles due to high carbon and nitrogen turnover rates and contribute disproportionately to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions relative to their areal coverage. The hyporheic zone may be a hotspot of biogeochemical reactivity within fluvial ecosystems resulting in high rates of...

Remediation of nitrate pollution of Earth's rivers and aquifers is hampered by cumulative biogeochemical processes and nitrogen sources. Isotopes (δ 15 N, δ 18 O) help unravel spatio-temporal nitrogen(N)-cycling of aquatic nitrate (NO 3 −). We synthesized nitrate isotope data (n =~5200) for global rivers and shallow aquifers for common patterns and...

Increased fluxes of reactive nitrogen (Nr), often associated with N fertilizer use in agriculture, have resulted in negative environmental consequences, including eutrophication, which cost billions of dollars per year globally. To address this, best management practices (BMPs) to reduce Nr loading to the environment have been introduced in many lo...

In sub-Saharan Africa, shallow aquifer systems are relied on as the main safe and secure water resource available to rural communities. Information on the sustainability and vulnerability of groundwater abstraction is becoming increasingly important as groundwater development increases. As part of the UpGro Consortium Project- Hidden Crisis, 150 ha...

Aquatic pollution from emerging organic contaminants (EOCs) is of key environmental importance in India and globally, particularly due to concerns of antimicrobial resistance, ecotoxicity and drinking water supply vulnerability. Here, using a broad screening approach, we characterize the composition and distribution of EOCs in groundwater in the Ga...

The authors wish to make the following corrections to this paper:[...]

Connectivity of groundwater flow within crystalline-rock aquifers controls the sustainability of abstraction and baseflow to rivers, yet is often poorly constrained at a catchment scale. Here groundwater connectivity in a sheared gneiss aquifer is investigated by studying the intensively abstracted Berambadi catchment (84 km(2)) in the Cauvery Rive...

Connectivity of groundwater flow within crystalline-rock aquifers controls the sustainability of abstraction and baseflow to rivers, yet is often poorly constrained at a catchment scale. Here groundwater connectivity in a sheared gneiss aquifer is investigated by studying the intensively abstracted Berambadi catchment (84 km2) in the Cauvery River...

Climate change and urbanization can increase pressures on groundwater resources, but little is known about how groundwater quality will change. Here, we use a global synthesis (n = 9,404) to reveal the drivers of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), which is an important component of water chemistry and substrate for microorganisms that control biogeoch...

Agricultural streams receive large inputs of nutrients, such as nitrate (NO3⁻) and ammonium (NH4⁺), which impact water quality and stream health. Streambed sediments are hotspots of biogeochemical reactivity, characterised by high rates of nutrient attenuation and denitrification. High concentrations of nitrous oxide (N2O) previously observed in st...

Eutrophication, caused by excessive nutrient concentrations, is a major environmental issue and has significant impacts on both aquatic ecosystems and human health. Phosphorus (P) is a key element that contributes to this eutrophication response. As such, P concentrations are regulated under both the European Union Water Framework Directive (EU WFD...

The impact of riparian wetlands on the cycling, retention and export of nutrients from land to water varies according to local environmental conditions and is poorly resolved in catchment management approaches. To determine the role a specific wetland might play in a catchment mitigation strategy, an alternative approach is needed to the high-frequ...

Biogeochemical gradients in streambeds are steep and can vary over short distances often making adequate characterisation of sediment biogeochemical processes challenging. This paper provides an overview and comparison of streambed pore-water sampling methods, highlighting their capacity to address gaps in our understanding of streambed biogeochemi...

The impact of riparian wetlands on the cycling, retention and export of nutrients from land to water varies according to local environmental conditions and is poorly resolved in catchment management approaches. To determine the role a specific wetland might play in a catchment mitigation strategy, an alternative approach is needed to the high frequ...

Phosphorus concentrations within water bodies have strict targets under the European Union Water Framework Directive. The headwaters of the Hampshire Avon in southern England, in the Vale of Pewsey is an agricultural catchment underlain by Upper Greensand (UGS), and flanked by Upper and Lower Chalk. P concentrations in the river are high, and work...

The oxygen isotope composition of dissolved inorganic phosphate (δ18O-P) offers new opportunities to understand the sources and the fate of phosphorus (P) in freshwater ecosystems. However, current analytical protocols for determining δ18O-P are unable to generate reliable data for samples in which ambient P concentrations are extremely low, precis...

Modern anthropogenic activities have significantly increased nitrate (NO3−) concentrations in surface waters. Stable isotopes (δ15N and δ18O) in NO3− offer a tool to deconvolute some of the human-made changes in the nitrogen cycle. They are often graphically illustrated on a template designed to identify different sources of NO3− and denitrificatio...

Understanding drinking water hydrochemistry is essential for maintaining safe drinking water supplies. Whilst targeted research surveys have characterised drinking water hydrochemistry, vast compliance datasets are routinely collected but are not interrogated amidst concerns regarding the impact of mixed water sources, treatment, the distribution n...

Streams and rivers are ‘active pipelines’ where high rates of carbon (C) turnover can lead to globally important emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) from surface waters to the atmosphere. Streambed sediments are particularly important in affecting stream chemistry, with rates of biogeochemical activity, and CO2 and CH4 concentration...

Organic matter in the environment is involved in many biogeochemical processes, including the mobilization of geogenic trace elements, such as arsenic, into groundwater. In this paper we present the use of fluorescence spectroscopy to characterize the dissolved organic matter (DOM) pool in heavily arsenic-affected groundwaters in Kandal Province, C...

Groundwater di daerah dataran tinggi floodplains memiliki fungsi yang penting dalam mengatur arus sungai dan mengendalikan hillslope runoff dengan sungai, dengan berbagai interaksi yang kompleks antara permukaan air dan groundwaters diseluruh floodplain meliput lebar dan kedalamannya. Memahami proses geologi yang mengendalikan heterogenitas dari ak...

Millions of people globally, and particularly in South and Southeast Asia, face chronic exposure to arsenic from reducing groundwater in which arsenic release is widely attributed to the reductive dissolution of arsenic-bearing iron minerals, driven by metal reducing bacteria using bioavailable organic matter as an electron donor. However, the natu...

Groundwater in upland floodplains has an important function in regulating river flows and controlling the coupling of hillslope runoff with rivers, with complex interaction between surface waters and groundwaters throughout floodplain width and depth. Heterogeneity is a key feature of upland floodplain hydrogeology and influences catchment water fl...

Groundwater in upland floodplains has an important function in regulating river flows and controlling the coupling of hillslope runoff with rivers, with complex interaction between surface waters and groundwaters throughout floodplain width and depth. Heterogeneity is a key feature of upland floodplain hydrogeology and influences catchment water fl...

The management of rivers for navigation, hydropower and flood risk reduction involves the installation of in-channel structures. These influence river levels and can affect groundwater flow within hydraulically-connected riparian floodplain aquifers. A comprehensively monitored, peri-urban, lowland river floodplain in the southern United Kingdom wa...

Understanding anthropogenic disturbance of macronutrient cycles is essential for assessing risks facing ecosystems. For the first time, we quantified inorganic nitrogen (N) fluxes associated with abstraction, mains water leakage and transfers of treated water related to public water supply. In England, the mass of nitrate-N removed from aquatic env...

Accurate quantification of sources of phosphorus (P) entering the environment is essential for the management of aquatic ecosystems. P fluxes from mains water leakage (MWL-P) have recently been identified as a potentially significant source of P in urbanised catchments. However, both the temporal dynamics of this flux and the potential future signi...

Weathered crystalline bedrock aquifers sustain water supplies across the tropics, including East Africa. Although well yields are commonly <1 L s⁻¹, more intensive abstraction occurs and provides vital urban and agricultural water supplies. The hydrogeological conditions that sustain such high abstraction from crystalline bedrock aquifers remain, h...

Globally, rivers and streams are important sources of carbon dioxide and methane, with small rivers contributing disproportionately relative to their size. Previous research on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from surface water lacks mechanistic understanding of contributions from streambed sediments. We hypothesise that streambeds, as known biogeoc...

Uncertainty persists regarding the vulnerability of deep groundwater across Asia's megadeltas. In the coastal Bengal Basin aquifer system, shallow groundwater (<100 m) commonly features high salinity or arsenic concentrations, and deep, better-quality, groundwater supplies drinking water to >80 million people. Here we report new radiocarbon evidenc...

Demand for groundwater in urban centres across Asia continues to rise with ever deeper wells being drilled to avoid shallow contamination. The vulnerability of deep alluvial aquifers to contaminant migration is assessed in the ancient city of Varanasi, India, using a novel combination of emerging organic contaminants (EOCs) and groundwater residenc...

Eutrophication is a globally significant challenge facing freshwater ecosystems and is closely associated with anthropogenic enrichment of phosphorus (P) in the aquatic environment. Phosphorus inputs to rivers are usually dominated by diffuse sources related to farming activities and point sources such as waste water treatment works (WwTW). The lim...

The Upper Greensand (UGS) aquifer, which outcrops in the Vale of Pewsey, is abundant in both primary and secondary calcium-phosphate minerals. The latter are mainly hydroxyapatite, which are hypothesised to precipitate into the pore space due to long-term P-rich fertiliser application on the overlying agricultural fields. These secondary mineral ph...