Groundwater Quality Issues
Evaluation, Protection, Monitoring & Regulation

Once Polluted, Groundwaters Are Very Difficult, If Not Impossible,
to Restore for Reliable Water Supply

Some Key Issues in Evaluating, Protecting,
Monitoring & Regulating Groundwater Quality:
See Our Publications on These Issues:
  • Once polluted, groundwater cannot be reliably "remediated" sufficiently for water supply
    Water supplies must be protected from pollution
  • Common sources of groundwater pollution
    Urban & agricultural land-use activities
    fertilizers/nutrients/nitrate; salts; solvents; pesticides/herbicides; dust suppressants; storage tanks
    Waste handling/management activities
    MSW & hazardous waste landfills - systems will leak & inadequate provisions for groundwater protection for as long as wastes remain threat
    - recognized hazardous chemicals
    - chemicals deleterious to uses of groundwater
    - unrecognized/unregulated/unmonitored chemicals
    Land application/disposal/"treatment;" septic tanks; composting
    Wastewater disposal wells - shallow, deep
    Natural sources - e.g., arsenic, radon
    Stormwater infiltration
    Enhanced groundwater recharge as BMP
  • Typical groundwater monitoring approaches inadequate to forewarn of pollution before widespread groundwater occurs
    Well location, number, screening depth/length, zones of capture, seasonal effects, etc.
    Vadose zone modeling shortcomings
  • Significant difference between pollution of surface water & of groundwater
    Dilution
    Bioactivity
    Residuals left in aquifer



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