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The Home Ground‐Water Supply Picture As We See It a
Author(s) -
McDermott James H.
Publication year - 1971
Publication title -
groundwater
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.84
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1745-6584
pISSN - 0017-467X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-6584.1971.tb03547.x
Subject(s) - water supply , hazard , water quality , population , public health , hazardous waste , groundwater , environmental health , water resources , water resource management , environmental protection , environmental planning , environmental science , business , environmental engineering , engineering , waste management , medicine , ecology , chemistry , nursing , organic chemistry , geotechnical engineering , biology
Abstract Drinking water for more than 50 million Americans is supplied from individual wells, springs, rain‐water catchments or unprotected surface‐water sources. The choice of water source is usually controlled by individual economic factors, and climatic, geologic and geographic considerations. This segment of the nation's population lives in the rural and suburban areas of the United States remote from existing community water supply distribution lines. The United States Public Health Service has shared, for many years, the concern of the various State Health Departments regarding the sanitary quality of individual water supplies. It has been generally concluded by public health officials, both Federal and State, that safe water supplies are not available to many homes in the United States. The rapid technological advances in industry, agriculture and transportation in recent years have intensified the potential of pollution of the environment, both chemically and biologically. The spread of pollution is accompanied by the increased hazard of water‐borne disease and associated illnesses. During the summer of 1969 the Bureau of Water Hygiene *, Environmental Health Service, with the cooperation of the Georgia State Health Department, conducted a systematic survey of individual water supplies in 4 counties in the State of Georgia. The results of the survey indicate that more than ⅓ of the water supplies sampled are potentially hazardous to the users, and that there is a definite relationship of the geologic environment and type of water supply to the nature of the contamination.