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New Priorities for Ground‐Water Quality Protection a
Author(s) -
Miller David W.,
Scalf Marion R.
Publication year - 1974
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.1745-6584.1974.tb03043.x
Subject(s) - groundwater , environmental science , water quality , water supply , pollutant , contamination , water resource management , pollution , surface water , environmental engineering , environmental planning , engineering , ecology , chemistry , geotechnical engineering , organic chemistry , biology
Four regional studies of the status of ground‐water pollution problems in 26 States have been sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. These investigations involved comprehensive reviews of the literature and contacts with public officials and others involved in water supply, so that individual case histories of ground‐water contamination problems could be evaluated. Septic tanks and cesspools, petroleum exploration and development, landfills, irrigation return flows, and surface discharges, impoundments, and spills are the principal sources leading to degradation of ground‐water quality. Only a very small percentage of the instances of ground‐water contamination that probably exist has been discovered to date, and almost all the reported cases were only discovered after a water‐supply source had been noticeably affected by one or more pollutants. In the vast majority of cases inventoried, the problem has not been corrected and will become more troublesome in the future. A prime need in all four regions is a greater effort toward locating and evaluating as many additional cases of ground‐water contamination as possible.