Contamination Of Groundwater

There are usually two types of processes of groundwater pollution: the "point" that affect localized areas, and "diffuse" pollution causing scattered over large areas, which is not easy to identify a main focus.

Point source pollution:

This type of pollution is usually more intense near the place of origin and is diluted with distance. The address that follows the flow of groundwater in a very important influence in determining which sites have contaminated water wells and what not. It may happen that a relatively close to the source of pollution has clean water because the groundwater flows away from the contaminant at the site, and vice versa.

The activities usually cause point source pollution are:

Landfill leachate of urban waste and sewage leaks that seep into the ground.

Industrial landfill leachate, mine debris, deposits of toxic radioactive waste or poorly insulated, leaky gas stations in their fuel tanks, etc.

Septic tanks and manure accumulations from the farms.

Diffuse Pollution

This type of contamination can lead to situations of particular concern with the passage of time, pollution load to go slowly but continuously over very large areas.

Diffuse pollution is often caused by:

Excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture or forestry practices.

Overexploitation of aquifers, this facilitates the salt water invasion of the freshwater area. This is achieved by moving the interface between the two types of water.

Aquifers have a certain self-purification capacity, higher or lower depending on the type of rock and other features. The pollutants, the water going forward between the particles are filtered and subsurface scattering and are neutralized, oxidized, reduced, or have other chemical or biological processes that degrade. In this way the water is cleaned.

When the geological structure provides a large area aeration processes are more effective debugging. It is also very favorable abundance of clay and organic matter. In contrast, in the alluvial or karst areas of water purification is much more difficult and such aquifers are much more sensitive to pollution.

When an aquifer is contaminated and must clean the process is very difficult and very expensive. Procedures have been used to extract water, purified and infused back into the field, but are not always effective and consume a lot of energy and money.