Groundwater Contamination Research Paper

     Hazardous wastes are another problem for the water in our world. These wastes are toxic, reactive, corrosive or ignitable. Most problems come from humans not storing the substance properly or not disposing of it correctly. This can be easily proven in 1969, when the Cuyahoga River, in Cleveland, Ohio, caught on fire and burned for sometime. Since this happened environmentalists have taken extreme measures to reduce the amount of pollution that is coming out of the power plants that are on the river and on Lake Erie.

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 Paul Dylan Hynds article it states that, “Groundwater contamination occurs as a direct result of human or animal waste ingress to Groundwater resources aquifers or wells” Most likely when man-made products such as gasoline, oil, road salts, and chemicals get into the groundwater. Pollutants are freed to the ground making their way or path down into the Groundwater. Overall, groundwater is very difficult to remediate, except when it is being remediated in small defined areas. As a result the importance of Groundwater has to be on the preventation of contamination. Protecting sensitive aquifers, having control of discharges, releases, provision of drainage, and sanitation systems to ward off pollution discharges. However, in small areas with

Toxic chemicals including heavy metals and radioactive wastes from different sources cause a serious pollution for underground water over the years. The main reason for underground water toxic chemical pollution is human activities such as chemical industries and mining. A given example for this case was

When it is removed is contains some volatile hydrocarbons that are sent through pipes or trucked to disposal ponds and underground injection wells. Sometimes, this produced water is discharged onto land or into surface waters. Storage in open pits allow for hydrocarbons to escape into the air. Shallow water pumping can cause migration of contaminants from soil to air. Engines of the water pumps also create exhaust. Produced water contains salts, metals, and hydrocarbons that contaminate soil when spilled or stored in earthen pits. Spills, pipeline breaks, leaky storage ponds, and injected water movement produce contaminated waters.

With air and soil pollution comes water contamination. In the event that a leak takes place underground it results in contamination to the groundwater. This groundwater slowly moves into other bodies of water and spreads the contamination. A wide spread area can be affected. (Rinaldi 422). The chemicals that are found in the contaminated water include Sodium Sulfite, Uranium 226 & 228, high levels of Sodium, and too many others to list. Bromite is among the worst because once treated at a water treatment facility it mixes with the chlorine to produce Trihalomethane. Trihalomethane is known to cause cancer. (Ken Dufalla, qtd. "FRACK US"). After repeated reports of drinking water contamination in PA alone, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection released a statement that "[The industry will require an ‘adjustment period' to refine practices.]" (PA DEP, qtd. Bamberger and Oswald

As well as bathing, people started purifying their water before drinking it as this lead to fewer diseases that are caused by contaminated water. People not only started caring about the quality of their drinking water, but they also started to get concerned about the quality of the air they were breathing in as the Plague virus was extremely contagious through the air. Popular methods people would do to achieve cleaner breathing air was by soaking pieces of cloth in scented oils and covering their mouths with the cloth to stop the Plague bacteria from getting into their lungs and infecting them. This method allowed people to travel outside their homes with some form of protection against the Plague compared to before. Another way people would

The potential threat for water pollution is very serious. Bacteria in the waste lagoons are dangerous to our lakes and streams, and the creatures that live in them. When the land floods from excessive rain the waste from the lagoons is carried

: Regardless of what is used to contaminate the earth, it will eventually affect the water supply. Water quality and contamination are issue affecting society today. We survive off less than 1% of the available fresh water on Earth. Some of the contaminants will have an immediate affect that will immediately make the water unsafe to drink. Some of the contaminants you want be able to see because of the slow filtration system, but you will be able to smell them like the Clorox and vinegar. It will be hard to see because of the same color it has as the water. This brings us to the importance of knowing the levels currently in our drinking water and how dangerously close the levels are (mBiosphere, 2012). It not only affects humans but the cycle

The largest source of contamination is runoff from land. Toxic runoff can be sewage, rainwater flowing over exposed topsoil, flooding or agricultural runoff. Rain can cause runoff of chemicals or waste that can seep into creeks, rivers and other waterways that lead to the ocean. Some of the chemicals found could be antibiotics or waste from animals, pesticides from crops or from pollutants, originating in the air, which have settled on land and washed away. Unless a solution to pollution runoff is found, this type of contamination will continue indefinitely and contribute to the deterioration of the ecosystem in the

Another water related environmental interrelationship is the impact that wastewater has on our waterways and groundwater. Wastewater has many sources including mining, industrial, municipal and consumer related wastewater. Much of this wastewater is treated before entering our water systems, but restrictions and mandated policy is not always followed and in some cases accidental spillage occurs. In many countries the concern over wastewater and its impact on the environment are ignored and dangerous wastewater is simply allowed to spill into local waterways. The impact of this can greatly influence the quality of life of both humans and wildlife.

Groundwater is water that is located underground between soil particles and in holes, or pores, in the bedrock ("Groundwater," 2011). Because earth has 80 times more groundwater than all the freshwater stored in lakes and streams combined ("Groundwater," 2011), its health has a large influence on the environment. Groundwater also has a large impact on humans; groundwater accounts for about 20% of water used in the US and almost half of water used in households, including drinking water ("Groundwater," 2011).

The volume of Water on Earth is around 1.4 billion km and 70% of the Earth is shrouded in water. In the meantime 70% of modern waste is dumped into water bodies which drives us to water contamination. So what is water contamination or water pollution? (Conserve Energy Future, 2017) (1). Water contamination or water pollution is described as the closeness in groundwater of harmful chemicals and natural and organic specialists that outperform what is ordinarily found in the water and may speak to a hazard to human prosperity and also the earth. In addition, it might contain chemicals brought into the water as a result of the human exercises. (Woodford, 2017) (2). Primary drivers of water pollution are solid & domestic wastes, sewage pollution, petroleum pollution, toxic chemicals and other human activities that lead to contamination.

Unsurprisingly, groundwater can be polluted. It’s a bit different, for litter, or garbage isn’t exactly the problem. It’s more so things like salt water, toxic waste, gasoline, oil, and just anything harmful that can seep beneath the ground’s

The purpose of this report is to propose a solution to the problem of reduced drinking water quality due to chemical pollution. Some bodies of water in the United States are becoming polluted from chemicals and restrictions are needed to protect drinking water quality.