Skip to main content
ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #127418
Title: GROUNDWATER POLLUTION: DISPERSED

Author
item Boyer, Douglas

Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/9/2002
Publication Date: 10/30/2003
Citation: BOYER, D.G. GROUNDWATER POLLUTION: DISPERSED (BOOK CHAPTER). ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CAVES AND KARST SCIENCE, JOHN GUNN, EDITOR. PP. 403-404. 2003.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Dispersed pollution, also known as nonpoint source pollution, is responsible for most of the pollution in the world's waterways and groundwater. Dispersed pollutants may include fertilizers, herbicides, and insecticides from agricultural and residential areas; oil, grease, and toxic chemicals from urban and highway runoff; sediment from crop and forest lands and construction sites; salt from irrigation and highway runoff; pathogens and nutrients from livestock, pet wastes, and faulty septic systems; and atmospheric deposition. Karst aquifers are especially vulnerable to dispersed pollutants because of rapid percolation, this soils, and aquifer opening directly to the surface. Little natural filtration is able to take place. This chapter discusses the importance of dispersed pollution in karst groundwater and strategies to reduce the opportunity for pollution of karst groundwater to occur.