The Effects Of Groundwater Pollution On The World

Water is probably the most important resource we as people have. Humans can survive without food for several weeks, but without water we would die in less than a week. On a slightly less dramatic note, millions of liters of water are needed every day worldwide for washing, irrigating crops, and cooling industrial processes, not to mention leisure industries such as swimming pools and water-sports centers. Despite our dependence on water, we use it as a dumping ground for all sorts of waste, and do very little to protect the water supplies we have.

High amounts of nitrate from agricultural field watershed contaminate the groundwater, creating a consumption hazard. A nitrate level greater than 10 mg/L causes negative health effects for the local population and aquatic organisms.

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.

Groundwater contamination has many far reaching environmental, political, societal and economic effects. Groundwater contamination, while obviously potentially detrimental to human wellbeing, can have a large impact on localities in any region of the world. When toxic agents are introduced into a groundwater system it puts all local wildlife in immediate danger. This includes the health of both flora and fauna near or in the flow from the source of contamination. Human health can also be impacted by this type of contamination. Toxic agents, in my example specifically tetrachloroethene (PCE), have many harmful effects on human health including affecting the central nervous system, causing cancers and causing pulmonary edema (Tetrachloroethylene Toxicity, 2017).

Did you know that, drinking contaminated water can cause diseases such as hepatitis? Poising may be caused by toxins that have leached into well water supplies. Materials from the lands surface can move through soil and end up in the groundwater. Wildlife can also be harmed by contaminated groundwater. Over 50% of the United States population depends on groundwater for drinking water. It can be related to waste disposal, land disposal of solid waste and brine disposal from the petroleum industry.

When there is an addition of undesired substances from human activities in the groundwater, it can cause groundwater contamination. There are many industrial operations that cause contamination in ground water, due to the large quantities of chemicals used. Chlorinated hydrocarbons, which are used in cleaning products and solutions containing chromium, which are used in metal plating, lead to the groundwater contamination. These industrial wastes are dumped in storage tanks and they leak, thus causing contamination.

The United States CWA, as previously explained, has many positive and negative effects. When thinking ethically and environmentally, supporting the CWA and encouragement for the spread worldwide comes rather simply. Aldo Leopold once said, “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends to otherwise” (Maus, 2017) This land ethic approach helps prove that the CWA is a good thing for this world. Some may argue that it is causing harm and is bad because all of the problems, but according to the land ethic, it is good because it trying to preserve the quality of our water and in return the quality of our lives and the world (Maus, 2017). Furthermore, supporters of the CWA are taking the precautionary principle into consideration. The precautionary principle is basically preparing for the worst and taking action to prevent a harmful event from taking place. We can all agree that water is a necessity for life, and that it is very important to make sure that necessity never vanishes. Everyone and everything in this world needs clean water, and this causes the CWA to have many stakeholders; the CWA is so controversial because it has an impact in everyone’s life. Clean water is taken for granite in the United States, and the CWA has had a positive impact in helping prevent water degradation and improve the overall water quality and ecosystem. The controversial part is that the purpose of the CWA gets

Napoleon Bonaparte once said “an army marches on its stomach.” I offer in addition, that an army hop/skips on its bladder (relies on delivery). Whether entering the body or leaving it, the world waits for only one thing, Water. Everyone requires water for their survival, so fortunately, as of 2004, the World Health Organization reported that for the first time in human history, 50% of households in the world have access to running water. Unfortunately, the quality of that water has been slipping for decades. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 90% of the world’s water has become contaminated in some way. So in addition to pissing oneself, people who rely on public water supplies need to worry about contracting serious diseases as well as exposing themselves to dangerous chemicals. Let me dive in to these problems by first looking at the sources of the water and pollution. Next I’ll talk about waterborne disease, and finally the effects of chemical contamination on the world’s water supply.

“about half the population in the United States relies to some extent on groundwater as a source of drinking water, and still more use it to supply their factories with process water or their farms with irrigation water.” (bloulding ,1995)

The Earth's surface is covered by massive amounts of water, but only a small measure of it is safe for consumption. With a very limited supply, we need to focus our energies on preserving its quality and quantity. Nitrates pose a great threat to our precious groundwater. There are many ways that groundwater can be contaminated, but most aren't nearly as detrimental as an increase in the amount of nitrates within our groundwater.

It’s no secret that there are countries that are more privileged than others. For example, here in the United States of America having clean drinking water, garbage pickup trucks, health clinics is something common. Like we don’t even think about not having access to these things. In developing countries things these things i just listed are more often rare than they are common. The topic i will talking about is the effects of polluted water in developing countries and solutions that can be put into effect to help change these circumstances.

Groundwater is water that is contained underground in the soil, or in the pores of a rock. For some places, groundwater is vital. In others, it’s just an additional water source. Pollution is a harmful substance that is introduced to an environment. Groundwater isn’t exactly polluted in the sense that toxic waste seeps into it, but that it is mixed in with other types of water that is exposed to the surface. As for the overexploitation of groundwater, this paper will introduce ways to prevent it.

The increasing use of artificial fertilizers, the disposal of wastes (particularly from animal farming) and changes in land use are the main factors responsible for the progressive increase in nitrate levels in groundwater supplies over the last 20 years.” (Asami et al.) It is no easy task to discover a solution to agricultural nitrogen runoff that improves the water and organisms while also appeasing the industry. What we want to know is how can we help make a difference in these habitats right now that can be carried out with as little opposition from the agricultural industry as possible. We propose an experiment that may help to alleviate some of the nitrogen amounts washed into streams while the bigger problems are being addressed by other institutions. It could be a quicker way to help the ecosystems than waiting until one solution is reached. Our hypothesis is that with the addition of natural and native vegetation, the amount of nitrogen present in streams due to runoff will decrease more than if imported substances like gravel and sand were introduced. We believe this option will prove the most successful because it may cause less of a disturbance in the surrounding environment. The vegetation will be native, so the problem of introducing a non-native species won’t need to be addressed. The organisms in the stream also need to be taken into consideration and the addition of

70 % of our Earth surface is covered by water and almost 60% of the human body contain water for nutrient transportation. The unique characteristic of water is water molecule is the only substance in this Earth that exist in all three physical states of matter which are solid, liquid and gas. All human beings need water to survive. The national development over the years cause the rate of water pollution increased. According to Gebre & Rooijen (2009) water pollution can be considered as a sign that derives from economic growth and is a common phenomenon in urbanized cities in developing countries. In general, there are three main issues that related to water pollution which are the causes, effects and the way to decrease this problem.

Cropland, fertilizer and manure were considered as the source variables since they directly contribute to the addition of nitrate fertilizer in CV for agricultural purpose. Rainfall, elevation, slope, permeability, recharge rate, clay content were used as the aquifer susceptibility variables as these variables play key role in the determining the rate of contamination in groundwater by either decreasing or increasing the rate of contamination. Dissolved oxygen, iron and manganese concentration were used as indicators of the geochemical condition of the CV as their concentration could affect the concentration of nitrate in the well samples.