To control the impact of nitrate and its sustainable mitigation in groundwater systems used for drinking water production, it is crucial to understand and quantify sources as well as biochemical processes which (permanently) remove nitrate.

In an alluvial aquifer in Germany (Hessian Ried) that serves as major drinking water recourse for the Frankfurt metropolitan area, water quality is challenged by nitrate contamination from intensive agricultural land use locally by far exceeding the drinking water limits of 50 mg/L.