Soil & Water Res., X:X | DOI: 10.17221/35/2026-SWR

Potential of micropollutants originated from irrigation water to contaminate soil and groundwaterOriginal Paper

Radka Kodešová ORCID...1, Alina Sadchenko ORCID...2, Martin Kočárek ORCID...1, Miroslav Fér ORCID...1, Helena Švecová ORCID...2, Aleš Klement ORCID...1, Antonín Nikodem ORCID...1, Jindřich Zelinka1, Marek Kučírek1, Lenka Pavlů ORCID...1, Vít Kodeš ORCID...3, Roman Grabic ORCID...2
1 Department of Soil Science and Soil Protection, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
2 South Bohemian Research Centre of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrocenoses, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Vodňany, Czech Republic
3 Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, Prague, Czech Republic

Sorption of organic contaminants in soils and sediments is a crucial factor affecting their mobility in the vadose zone environment. Freundlich sorption isotherms were evaluated for six micropollutants identified in areas irrigated with river-water and sixteen soils. The highest Freundlich sorption coefficients, KF, were obtained for 1,3-diphenylguanidine (11.6 ± 5.0 cm3/nμg1−1/n/g) followed by triethyl citrate (4.57 ± 4.91), 4-acetamidoantipyrine (1.43 ± 0.24), 6 : 2 fluorinated telomer sulfonate (1.18 ± 0.42), benzo(d)thiazole-2-sulfonic acid (1.12 ± 0.33), and naphthalene-2-sulfonic acid (0.28 ± 0.17). The KF values for the individual compounds were correlated with soil properties. Multiple linear regressions were used to derive equations for predicting the KF values using the soil properties. Sorption of cationic molecules was positively affected by cation exchange capacity or clay content, indicating strong sorption of cations on negatively charged sorption sites. Sorption of anionic molecules was positively correlated with organic carbon content and wettability index, suggesting hydrophobic interactions with soil organic matter. Anion sorption was also positively influenced by magnetic susceptibility, which could indicate sorption of anions on the positively charged sorption sites. Sorption of acids was in some cases also positively affected by cation exchange capacity, which could imply their sorption via cation bridges. 

Keywords: identification of pollutants in the environment; industrial chemicals; soil properties; sorption isotherms; surfactants; pharmaceuticals’ metabolites; vulcanization accelerators

Received: March 16, 2026; Accepted: March 27, 2026; Prepublished online: April 8, 2026 

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