A simple and efficient scheme is presented that attempts to implement the site-specific denitrification rate in the reactive transport modeling for the nitrate in groundwater. A series of correlation analyses were conducted using 133 datasets obtained...
A simple and efficient scheme is presented that attempts to implement the site-specific denitrification rate in the reactive transport modeling for the nitrate in groundwater. A series of correlation analyses were conducted using 133 datasets obtained from different nitrate-contaminated sites to find the empirical relationships between denitrification rates and various subsurface properties. Based on Pearson's correlation analysis, the soil organic carbon concentrations showed a statistically significant correlation (r = 0.75, p < 0.05) with the denitrification rates. A linear regression was performed, which could be utilized to effectively determine the site-specific denitrification rate based on the soil organic carbon concentration of a site. The proposed method is expected to effectively replace the conventional methods which either were too complicated for practical application or impose large uncertainties that might end up with unreliable results.