My WebLink
|
Help
|
About
|
Sign Out
Home
Browse
Search
WSP11739
CWCB
>
Water Supply Protection
>
Backfile
>
11000-11999
>
WSP11739
Metadata
Thumbnails
Annotations
Entry Properties
Last modified
1/26/2010 3:18:42 PM
Creation date
10/12/2006 5:08:34 AM
Metadata
Fields
Template:
Water Supply Protection
File Number
8443.400
Description
Narrows Project - Reports
State
CO
Basin
South Platte
Water Division
1
Date
1/1/1963
Author
US DoI USGS
Title
A Primer On Ground Water
Water Supply Pro - Doc Type
Report/Study
There are no annotations on this page.
Document management portal powered by Laserfiche WebLink 9 © 1998-2015
Laserfiche.
All rights reserved.
/
30
PDF
Print
Pages to print
Enter page numbers and/or page ranges separated by commas. For example, 1,3,5-12.
After downloading, print the document using a PDF reader (e.g. Adobe Reader).
Show annotations
View images
View plain text
<br /> <br />. ,." <br />'r v oJ ~. <br />~ <br />....ell.. at Waterbury, Conn., and aL<;o on Long <br />hland.during World War 11. <br />Chemical fertilize!"i and pc.q controls aL-.o an': <br />contaminating some ....ater suppli~. Their use <br />is increasing rapidly. !\o doubt they are enter- <br />ing fresh.....ater aquift"rs from field~ and farms. <br />and we simply do not know what the long. term <br />effects of thi", fonn of contamination will he. <br />Synthetic detergent~ are proving: to Ix another <br />threat 10 the quality of ground as well 35 suriace <br />waler, In some plac~ detcrgent.bc-aring water <br />is dumped into str('am~ that arc sources of r('- <br />charge for ground-.....ater reservoirs, or it ~eps <br />from septic tanks into the ground......ater re...-.er\'oir. <br />Research is being done to determine at what con. <br />centration detergents become loxie. to overcome <br />their interference in conventional.....ater-treatment <br />practices and to develop new materials that are <br />Ics.s resi~tant to natural decomposition than thc= <br />present onc:s. <br />~Iost people think of walc=r pollution io terms <br />of bacterial pollution from human wa.ste:s. This <br />is certainly an important problem. The wide- <br />spread in",tallation of modem S(:wcr sptems has <br />cleaned up the ~trt~eb of our cities but has had <br />a marked adverst' effect on rivers and in some <br />places e\'en on ground.....'ater supplies. Ground <br />water is naturally i>Omewhat protected from the <br />effects of ....a.~tc dii'posal by its mere inaccessibility <br />and the filtering action of .'\Oil and rocks. Ho...... <br />e\"er. seepage from S('\,-ers and septic tanks can <br />contaminale an aqyifer. Or floodwaters may <br />seep into ground-....ater reservoirs. car~'in~ bac. <br />terial contamination along with them. Since it <br />takes an aquifer a long time to purify itself. it is <br />important to keep wells from being contaminated <br />by dirt or~wagt'. \\'tlls"hould nOI he built near <br />prh'ies or barnyards. <br />On Ihe whole, ground water is of bcUer ~ani. <br />tary qualit.... than surface water. Even where <br />Iherc are sources of contamination. the bach'ria <br />lend 10 be filtered as the water pa~ through <br />the 50il and rocks. <br />Wat(:r of different qualit). is needed for difT(:r- <br />ent purpao;cs (fig-. 9). Water for drinking mu"t <br />be: fret' of harmful hacteria, and it must not con. <br />tain too many mineral.... or it will he unplea..ant <br />to ta~te. and may even make people ill. Water <br />used for irrig-ation ",hould not ha\"(' too many <br />mineral, in it. tither, and especially not too much <br />boron or too high a proportion of "Odium. In- <br />dustry requires different kinds of water quality <br /> <br />14 <br /> <br />for different proce;sc5. Watt::r t1.<;cd to make 5)"n- <br />Iheoc fabrics cannot contain too much iron, for it <br />,\'ill ~lain tbe fabric.<;. Water used for canning <br />pea!' and heans and other vegetables cannot be <br />too hard. or Ihe vegetable;; will he tough, For <br />i>Ome proces't'S., such as industrial cooling, cold <br />water of const"tent temperature is necessarr. For <br />many pll~. grollnd wat(:r if available is pref. <br />erabl(: to "uriace water. because of it<; constant <br />temperature and bacteriological purity. Alw, its <br />chemical content tends to remain more stable <br />than that of suriace water, even if somewhat <br />higher, and thts simplifies any treatment that may <br />he considc=red nec~ary for a particular use. <br />Where permeable rocks are in contact with <br />sea water. wells near the ~a mOl)" become \'ery <br />!'.ahy, if they are pumped exces.<;ively. Fresh <br />water is lighter than M'a water. and literally floats <br />on the heavier sea water. Pumping upsets the <br />delicate balance bet.....een the fresh water and the <br />salt. The salt water then mi.xes into or en- <br />croaches upon the fresh water (fig, 10). If the <br />pumping is reduced, the excess salts may C\'cotu. <br />all.... be flushed oul by fresh water recharging the <br />aquifer. but it may take many many ye:arg for <br />flushing to be complete. When the salt en. <br />croachment is S(',we. the rC$Crvoir mar be spoiled <br />for future t1.<;C. tn many placC5, the local c=con. <br />omy is depcndl'lll on pumping from these wells <br />and a rrouction in pumping is not easy to ac. <br />eompli..h. <br />Artificial recharge (figs. 10, 11) is being tried <br />a.s a remedy for salt-.....ater encroachment. One <br />important cxample is in the Los Angtlcs area. <br />where it is vitall.... necessary to protect the fresh <br />water inland. By artificial rechargc.....e mean that <br />fresh water is injected into an aquifer-in this <br />casc. into specially dug w('ll~ along the shoreline. <br />The theory is that the fr~h waler will enter th~) <br />aquifer and set up a f1::'\"erse gradll'nt which wiY <br />force the salt water back (fig. 10). <br />Radioacti,"e industrial wastes are a. ~tential <br />hazard becau~ wastes from nucleaJ-cnergy in. <br />du"trics. if not carefully controlleJ. would con- <br />tam in ale water ~uppli('S" Ch~'ili ,pow,er reacton <br />are being built or are alrf'ady use In a doun <br />States and in Puerto Rico and others are <br />planned. <br />Water is the univt'rsal so 'ent, capable of dis- <br />solving more difTt"rent substanco than any other <br />liquid. Thu."-, if radioacti\'e materials .....ere re- <br />leased they could be trarnporte:d in solution. <br /> <br />
The URL can be used to link to this page
Your browser does not support the video tag.