Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27673729›Full record

ArticleNature communications2016

Megacity pumping and preferential flow threaten groundwater quality.

Mahfuzur R Khan, Mohammad Koneshloo, Peter S K Knappett, Kazi M Ahmed, Benjamin C Bostick, Brian J Mailloux, Rajib H Mozumder, Anwar Zahid, Charles F Harvey, Alexander van Geen and 1 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
20citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

20 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
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  4. Urban groundwater supplies facing dual pressures of depletion and contamination in China.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Mahfuzur R KhanDepartment of Geological Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2960-9648
Mohammad KoneshlooDepartment of Geological Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, USA.
Peter S K KnappettGeology and Geophysics, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA.
Kazi M AhmedDepartment of Geology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh.
Benjamin C BostickLamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964, USA.
Brian J MaillouxEnvironmental Sciences, Barnard College, New York, New York 10027, USA.
Rajib H MozumderLamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964, USA.
Anwar ZahidDepartment of Geology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh.
Charles F HarveyDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge Massachussetts, 02197, USA.
Alexander van GeenLamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964, USA.
Holly A MichaelDepartment of Geological Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, USA.

Funding

Training CoreP42ES010349 · NIEHS · COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · PI NAVAS-ACIEN, ANA · 2000 to 2020
$53.6M
NIEHS NIH HHS P42 ES010349
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Many of the world's megacities depend on groundwater from geologically complex aquifers that are over-exploited and threatened by contamination. Here, using the example of Dhaka, Bangladesh, we illustrate how interactions between aquifer heterogeneity and groundwater exploitation jeopardize groundwater resources regionally. Groundwater pumping in Dhaka has caused large-scale drawdown that extends into outlying areas where arsenic-contaminated shallow groundwater is pervasive and has potential to migrate downward. We evaluate the vulnerability of deep, low-arsenic groundwater with groundwater models that incorporate geostatistical simulations of aquifer heterogeneity. Simulations show that preferential flow through stratigraphy typical of fluvio-deltaic aquifers could contaminate deep (>150 m) groundwater within a decade, nearly a century faster than predicted through homogeneous models calibrated to the same data. The most critical fast flowpaths cannot be predicted by simplified models or identified by standard measurements. Such complex vulnerability beyond city limits could become a limiting factor for megacity groundwater supplies in aquifers worldwide.

Identifiers

PMID27673729
PMCPMC5052627

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.