Groundwater contamination is nearly always the result of human activity. In areas where population density is high and human use of the land is intensive,groundwater is especiallyvulnerable. Where chemicals or wastes may be released to the environment, either intentionally or accidentally has the potential to pollute ground water. When groundwater becomes contaminated, it is difficult and expensive to cleanup. Ground water can be contaminated by human activities and also natural causes when the effluent from the industries, residential areas and commercial purpose are stored the contaminants can reach the groundwater through activities like spills, discharge or landfills and leakage of the underground storage such as septic tanks. Some substances …show more content…
Most of our household waste is buried in landfills. An important factor in how landfills are built is how they contain waste and prevent waste from contaminating nearby soil and water sources. Leachate is a fluid that has passed through or emerged from the waste in a landfill, picking up a variety of suspended and dissolved materials along the way. In unlined landfills, the leachate continues to leach into the ground and may contaminate groundwater. Many old landfills used a simple clay liner for containing leachate. Newer landfills are required to meet federal and state requirements to prevent environmental contamination. These landfills have sophisticated liner systems often made of heavy-duty, high density polyethylene plastic, where leachate is collected at the bottom. The leachate is typically treated on-site or is pumped out and sent to a local wastewater treatment plant. Treated leachate can be disposed of in a number of ways e.g., discharged to surface waters or recirculated back into the
Since I live in the Texoma area the majority of our drinking water comes from Lake Texoma. I think the three sources of groundwater contamination that might affect groundwater in my area would be human-made materials that are littered into the lake, agricultural activities, and human/animal wastes. There are a lot of people in the area who like to go fishing near the lake and drinking alcoholic beverages. These people throw their beer cans and all of their trash into the lake. They also urinate and defecate into the lake as well. There are many nearby farms and ranches to the lake and with all of the flooding water has run-off from these areas back into the lake.
In 1969 it was discovered that the site was leaching due to a lack of a bottom liner. The landfill was leaching volatile organic compounds (VOC), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) and explosive landfill gases (LFG).
One day I was watching a television show; many people have watched it before and have finished. That show affected me more, in my perspective than anyone else I knew. It was about the past of a high school student and what went on in her life. I never told anyone about my past, this made an old struggle come back even stronger and more difficult to overcome again. It was just my mom and I watching this show yet my mom skipped almost half of it because she didn't want me to see parts, yet I filled them in with my own imagination.
In this experiment we tested ground water contaminants. The materials that were used was eight 250mL beakers, three wooden stir sticks, 100mL graduated cylinder, 10mL of vegetable oil, 10mL of vinegar, 10mL of liquid laundry detergent, 100mL beaker, 240mL of soil, funnel, cheesecloth, and water.
Globally, over seven hundred and eighty-three million people do not have access to clean water (The Water Project, 2016). Millions of people have to struggle endlessly to fill up pails of water for themselves and their families; however, this does not happen in America. Water contamination and access, or lack thereof, is a third world issue. The United States is a global empire, wealthy, and the land of opportunity; Flint, Michigan became a local cesspool, impoverished, and without basic drinking water. The visual of desolate villagers walking miles for water is not the universal or unique image anymore. The ordinary town of Flint became a national icon for water scarcity and paranoia. Water contamination, disease outbreak and widespread panic
The local area is City of Lake County is acceptable to many Floridians the state’s with fourth largest lake known for bass fishery with many lake beaches for recreational interests such as swimming, boating, and water skiing. The government established the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1986. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required to set standards for drinking water quality as well of oversee all states, localities, and water suppliers who implement these standards. Lake County Florida there is many homes that rely on city ground water while others may have a well system in place. Contamination have impacted to the lakes over many decades led the lake to be
Leachate is a toxic material (mixture of H2O and plastic) that potentially poisons the Eco System.
Have you ever wondered where all the trash goes that you throw out? Most of it ends up in landfills, gets burned or ends up on the street. Landfills are the most cost-efficient ways to get rid of trash for places like the United States but at what price. When waste disintegrates in landfills and water passes through the waste, the resulting liquid is called leachate. When leachate run off encounter local rivers and lakes it can contaminate the water and destroy whole eco systems that live in these areas. Landfill gas consists of naturally occurring methane and carbon dioxide, which form inside the landfill as the waste decomposes. As the gases form, pressure builds up inside a landfill, forcing the gases to move. Some of the gases escape through
In our society we are encountering environmental issue with water pollution. The world development of modern agriculture and industry, water pollution has been a major problem.
The human body is contained mostly of water. Plants and animals will stop to exist without water. Water is used in transportation, cleaning, and other walks of life. It is not hard to figure out that water is one of the planet’s most valuable useful things (Bottcher 2012). However, the previously-mentioned walks of life create many of the concerns connected with the consumption of water. Water contamination is a hot topic in America. Americans are concerned with the contaminants that may be waiting in a creepy way their tap
My theme for the story Animal Farm by Greg Orwell is how power can lead to corruption and dictatorship/oppression. I chose this theme because it is very prominent throughout the story. In the story a few examples of this were as follows: Napoleon giving power to the pigs and terrorizing the other animals and creating new laws such as “All animals are equal but some are more equal than others.” which displays how the pigs are oppressing the animals by carrying whips around to intimidate them, working them on the bare minimal amount of food they need to not expire, and violating all of the 7 Animalia commandments without remorse. This connects to my claim by displaying how they were being dictators due to the other animals having no say in
Groundwater pollution is a major problem that is growing in all over the world. Of course the united states America also facing this problem. People of Mississippi State are worried about groundwater pollution due to the several human activities. Groundwater is a main source of their water supply. Disposal of solid waste in landfills is an economic option for many municipalities in developing countries where alternatives like incineration and composting are costly. However, groundwater pollution from the leachate generated within the landfill and migrating through the bottom liner material into the underlying groundwater aquifers remains a major public health concern I studied chemical parameters of groundwater in Alcorn State University as a part of my project.
The contamination of water and drinking supplies with high concentrations of nutrients from animal waste has fatal effects on different organisms. “Elevated nitrates in drinking water...hinders the ability of the...blood to carry oxygen” (Hribar 4), which can cause serious health conditions such as birth defects, miscarriages, and can even lead to death in seniors and infants. Although nitrates may have the greatest consequences on younger and older individuals, adults that consume tainted water develop increased risks of “cancer and non-cancer diseases...diabetes...and neurodevelopmental defects” (Halden and Schwab 16). Contaminated drinking water poses a serious threat to human health, and can affect people’s happiness and quality of life.
There are three main mechanisms by which the chemical composition of groundwater, which is our natural source of drinking water, may be changed: by natural processes, by man's waste-disposal practices such as those for sanitary wastes, liquid industrial wastes, solid wastes, and radioactive wastes, and by spills, leaks, and agricultural activities and other sources unrelated to disposal. The degree of risk posed by contaminants varies according to many factors. These include the volume and toxicity of the contaminant, its concentration in the aquifer, its persistence in the environment, and the degree of human and environmental exposure to the contaminant. In addition, the number of persons affected, or likely to be affected, over time and the percentage of available groundwater both locally and regionally should be taken into consideration. If the contaminants in the groundwater exceed the standards set for drinking water by the federal government, for example, then the water is hazardous for the use for which it was designated under the standards. These standards include, however, only a limited number of chemicals, and thus they do not necessarily protect humans or the environment against either the short-term or the long-term effects of every contaminant that might be found in
Interactions between groundwater and surface water are complex. Consequently, groundwater pollution, sometimes referred to as groundwater contamination, is not as easily classified as surface water pollution.[7] By its very nature, groundwater aquifers are susceptible to contamination from sources that may not directly affect surface water bodies, and the distinction of point vs. non-point source may be irrelevant. A spill or ongoing releases of chemical or radionuclide contaminants into soil (located away from a surface water body) may not create point source or non-point source pollution, but can contaminate the aquifer below, defined as a toxin plume. The movement of the plume, a plume front, can be part of a Hydrological transport model or Groundwater model. Analysis of groundwater contamination may focus on the soil characteristics and site geology, hydrogeology, hydrology, and the nature of the contaminants.