Groundwater pollution control : a challenge to hydraulic research

Abstract

Groundwater constitutes a major natural resource for drinking water supply. The serious deterioration of groundwater quality observed in all industrialized and densely populated countries can be considered as an unspectacular, but ubiquitous "man-caused environmental disaster". Groundwater management has to match the increasing demands of drinking water supply (and other uses) with the constraints of the natural groundwater system with respect to both quantity and quality. In this paper, groundwater pollution problems are described and strategic considerations with respect to groundwater protection and subsurface remediation are illustrated by several examples. It is shown that the way towards adequate engineering solutions for sustainable development of groundwater resources still poses many challenges to hydraulic research.