Nickel in groundwater - a case study from northern Sweden

摘要

A large groundwater plant in Northern Sweden has experienced problems with elevated nickel concentrations in some of the 20 water wells that are used for water supply. There are two possible sources for the nickel, some sulphide deposits present in the direction of the glacial ice movement and glacial sulphidic clays. The elevated nickel contents appeared after the shifting of the basins for artificial recharge to new sites. No elevated nickel contents is found in the glacifluvial deposits and neither in the ferric oxyhydroxides in the B-horizons of the podzolic soils. Empetrum nigrum is known to pick up nickel from soils but the content of a composite sample is not elevated. A clay layer is sandwiched in the glacifluvial deposits and there is a pronounced relation between low groundwater levels and elevated nickel in the wells with elevated nickel. Thus the most likely source is the sulphidic glacial clays.