Evaluation of ecological and health risks of nitrate in groundwater in the northern region

The study took the northern area as the object of evaluation by geostatistical software, fuzzy integrated comprehensive evaluation method and potential ecological risk index. The evaluation results were affected by natural geomorphological factors.There were four land types in the area, with varying spatial distribution ratios, as follows,the construction zone type which accounted for 21% of area, the grasslands type which accounted for 32%, the arable land type which accounted for 46%, and the forest land type which accounted for 1%. The ecological risk evaluation index of the study area indicated a slight threat. Using the health risk evaluation model, the children's health risk index were found to be 4.9×10 − 3 ～1.31×10 − 2 , while the adults' health risk index were 3.2×10 − 3 ～1.13×10 − 2 . Children were roughly 0.5 times more susceptible to health risks than adults. Therefore, there should be sustained attention to the nitrate groundwater contamination in the study area.