The contamination of groundwater, which is part of continental waters, has become one of the great environmental problems of this century, directly conditioning our survival. It occurs when polluting substances or particles are incorporated into aquifers, which can alter the physical-chemical properties of groundwater and, therefore, its quality. In general, it is human activities that lead us to this type of phenomenon, but are we aware of the magnitude and the implication that we individually and collectively have regarding this problem?
At Ecologista Verde, we intend to publicize this problem through various examples of groundwater contamination. Also here we tell you which are the main pollutants in groundwater and what we can do to avoid polluting the aquifers. So, if you are interested in knowing everything about causes and consequences of groundwater contamination and more related details, go ahead and read on.
Causes of groundwater contamination
There are multiple human activities that trigger groundwater contamination. To know how groundwater pollution occurs It is important to be clear about certain processes such as infiltration and leachate of polluting substances, since most of the pollutants are incorporated into the aquifers through filtration through the soil. Among the sources of contamination of the aquifers or causes of groundwater pollution we find the following:
- Industries are generators of multiple pollutants of chemical, organic or inorganic origin that can reach the environment through their discharge into blind wells, through leaks, spills, seepage from purification systems, etc.
- In agriculture, the diffuse contamination of groundwater by the use of chemical substances such as pesticides, fertilizers or herbicides. Here we tell you more about chemical pollution: what it is, causes and consequences.
- On the other hand, urbanization and soil sealing affect the infiltration and purification functions of water, which with the expansion of urban centers means the destruction of the natural ecosystem and its biodiversity. These activities and their own domestic and individual unleash polluting processes through the atmospheric deposition of polluting particles, such as nitrogen, (from vehicle traffic, industrial emissions, livestock, urban discharges) and their subsequent leaching.
- Also septic systems, for the deposition and subsequent treatment of domestic wastewater, in case of failure constitute a possible source of soil and groundwater contamination.
- Following this line, the burial of garbage and radioactive waste stands out.
- Inadequate construction, abandonment of wells (illegal wells) and overexploitation of them. When collecting water, it is possible that we contaminate a “healthy” aquifer by putting it in contact with another contaminated one or, by breaking its water balance, thus allowing poor quality water to enter the reservoir.
- The injection of gray or polluted water into aquifers, to avoid spillage and surface contamination and also to achieve an improvement in the quality of the injected resource, is one more cause of this problem.
Types of groundwater pollution
Of all these polluting actions of the water, several types of groundwater pollution:
- Thermal (ex .: nuclear power plant).
- Biological.
- By heavy metals.
- By organic matter.
- By nutrients.
- By acids.
- Radioactive.
- By xenobiotics.
Consequences of groundwater contamination
Some of the effects of groundwater pollution are:
- Excessive concentration of nitrates in aquifers due to the excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers.
- Saline intrusion into aquifers by excessive pumping of groundwater in coastal areas. In this case, the cause is overexploitation of the resource itself.
- Presence of heavy metals (which induces diseases such as lead poisoning).
- Presence of xenobiotics and complex organic compounds that act as mutagens.
All this results in a decrease in the quality of these waters, which can affect the potability of the resource and, therefore, the consumption we make of it. To expand all this information, we encourage you to also read this other article on the Causes and consequences of water pollution.
How to avoid contamination of groundwater
Finally, we talk about the protection of groundwater against contamination and deterioration.
- Groundwater contamination is usually diagnosed late. To work on the early detection of these contamination processes, it is important to carry out a process of continuous monitoring and control through the river basin districts, in order to know the water quality status.
- At the legislative level, concentration limits have been established for the presence of certain dangerous substances in the aquatic environment.
- However, regulatory efforts are a dead letter if individual, corporate and systemic or social will does not go ahead of all these measures. That is why, in addition to actions such as the installation of garbage dumps, waste dumps and industrial activities in impervious areas, the purification of water before its discharge into the natural environment, the septic tank monitoring, the removal of residues on the surface, the control of surface runoff, the injection of clean quality water …, the environmental education. In this way, information and awareness become the most powerful tools to mitigate, reduce and correct groundwater contamination processes.
After having learned all this about the contamination of groundwater or contamination of aquifers, we recommend that you continue learning with these other articles by Green Ecologist about Solutions to water contamination, How to avoid water contamination and How to form the groundwater.
If you want to read more articles similar to Groundwater pollution: causes and consequences, we recommend that you enter our Pollution category.
