Chapter 4 - Surface/Groundwater Quality and Monitoring

Abstract

This chapter provides an understanding of hydrological processes, groundwater/surface water interactions, and describes how to manage water resources. Hydraulic principles and the force of gravity dictate which direction the water travels in all surface water/groundwater interactions. Aquifers typically consist of gravel, sand, sandstone, or fractured rock, like limestone. These materials are permeable because they have large connected spaces that allow water to flow through relatively freely. The speed of groundwater flow is important when dealing with potential contaminants and depends on the size of the spaces in the soil or rock. The contaminants typically enter a groundwater system from the land surface, infiltrating and percolating down through the aerated soil and unsaturated zone. This movement is affected by several variables including properties of the contaminant itself, soil and unsaturated zone conditions, climatic factors, and vegetation cover. The Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, commonly referred to as the Clean Water Act (CWA), is one of the most important and far reaching environmental statutes ever passed by the U.S. Congress. Similar legislation has recently been adopted by the European Union (EU) under the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament. Both establish criteria for water protection and management and prepare and direct comprehensive programs for eliminating or reducing the contamination of surface and underground waters.