Hydrology and Earth System Sciences www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net 1027-5606 1607-7938 13 10 2009 10.5194/hess-13-1765-2009 http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/13/1765/2009/ http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/13/1765/2009/hess-13-1765-2009.html http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/13/1765/2009/hess-13-1765-2009.pdf 1765 1774 2009-10-01 Application of integral pumping tests to investigate the influence of a losing stream on groundwater quality S. Leschik sebastian.leschik@ufz.de A. Musolff R. Krieg M. Martienssen M. Bayer-Raich F. Reinstorf G. Strauch M. Schirmer UFZ – Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Department of Hydrogeology, Permoserstrasse 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus, Chair Biotechnology of Water Treatment, Siemens-Halske-Ring 8, 03046 Cottbus, Germany Amphos 21 Consulting S.L., Passeig de Rubi 29-31, 08197 Valldoreix, Barcelona, Spain University of Applied Sciences Magdeburg-Stendal, Department of Water and Waste Management, Breitscheidstrasse 2, 39114 Magdeburg, Germany Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Department Water Resources and Drinking Water, Ueberlandstrasse 133, 8600 Duebendorf, Switzerland Losing streams that are influenced by wastewater treatment plant effluents and combined sewer overflows (CSOs) can be a source of groundwater contamination. Released micropollutants such as pharmaceuticals, endocrine disrupters and other ecotoxicologically relevant substances as well as inorganic wastewater constituents can reach the groundwater, where they may deteriorate groundwater quality. This paper presents a method to quantify exfiltration mass flow rates per stream length unit M_ex of wastewater constituents from losing streams by the operation of integral pumping tests (IPTs) up- and downstream of a target section. Due to the large sampled water volume during IPTs the results are more reliable than those from conventional point sampling. We applied the method at a test site in Leipzig (Germany). Wastewater constituents K⁺ and NO₃^− showed M_ex values of 1241 to 4315 and 749 to 924 mg m_stream^−1 d^−1, respectively, while Cl^− (16.8 to 47.3 g m_stream^−1 d^−1) and SO₄^2− (20.3 to 32.2 g m_stream^−1 d^−1) revealed the highest observed M_ex values at the test site. 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