a sewage treatment plant, a factory or a city storm drain. Nonpoint source pollution
refers to diffuse contamination that does not originate from a single discrete source.
It is often the cumulative effect of small amounts of contaminants gathered from a
large area. A common example is the leaching out of nitrogen compounds from
agricultural lands.
Contaminated storm water washed off of parking lots, roads and highways,
called urban runoff, is sometimes included under the category of nonpoint pollution.
However, when this runoff is channeled into storm drain systems and discharged
through pipes to local surface waters, it can be considered as a point source.
Pollutants causing water pollution can also be broadly classified as pollution due
to poverty—lack of sanitation infrastructure, for example—and pollution due to
prosperity, as countries industrialize and empty the waste into water resources, both
surface and ground.
Interactions between groundwater and surface water are complex. Consequently,
groundwater pollution, sometimes referred to as groundwater contamination, is not
as easily classified as surface water pollution. By its very nature, groundwater
aquifers are susceptible to contamination from sources that may not directly affect
surface water bodies, and the distinction of point versus nonpoint source may be
irrelevant. A spill or ongoing releases of chemical contaminants into soil (located
away from a surface water body) may not create point source or nonpoint source
pollution, but can contaminate the aquifer below, defined as a toxin plume. The
movement of the plume, called a plume front, may be analyzed through a hydrological transport model or groundwater model. Analysis of groundwater contamination may focus on the soil characteristics and site geology, hydrogeology,
hydrology and the nature of the contaminants.
2 Global Water Quality Crisis
In 2019, the World Bank released a worrisome report: Quality Unknown: The
Invisible Water Crisis.
1
The book informed that:
• Water quality is a problem that is growing in complexity as prosperity expands
and new contaminants emerge.
• The increasing range of pollutants varies by sector, geography and development
level.
• There are still deep uncertainties about safe levels and the size and type of
impacts on humans and ecosystems.
• Not only is there no silver bullet solution to solve the water quality problem, but
even coming up with a typology of appropriate responses is challenging.
1
Quality Unknown: The Invisible Water Crisis, Damania, Richard, Sébastien Desbureaux,
Aude-Sophie Rodella, Jason Russ, and Esha Zaveri, Washington, DC.
70
I. Khurana and R. Sen
refers to diffuse contamination that does not originate from a single discrete source.
It is often the cumulative effect of small amounts of contaminants gathered from a
large area. A common example is the leaching out of nitrogen compounds from
agricultural lands.
Contaminated storm water washed off of parking lots, roads and highways,
called urban runoff, is sometimes included under the category of nonpoint pollution.
However, when this runoff is channeled into storm drain systems and discharged
through pipes to local surface waters, it can be considered as a point source.
Pollutants causing water pollution can also be broadly classified as pollution due
to poverty—lack of sanitation infrastructure, for example—and pollution due to
prosperity, as countries industrialize and empty the waste into water resources, both
surface and ground.
Interactions between groundwater and surface water are complex. Consequently,
groundwater pollution, sometimes referred to as groundwater contamination, is not
as easily classified as surface water pollution. By its very nature, groundwater
aquifers are susceptible to contamination from sources that may not directly affect
surface water bodies, and the distinction of point versus nonpoint source may be
irrelevant. A spill or ongoing releases of chemical contaminants into soil (located
away from a surface water body) may not create point source or nonpoint source
pollution, but can contaminate the aquifer below, defined as a toxin plume. The
movement of the plume, called a plume front, may be analyzed through a hydrological transport model or groundwater model. Analysis of groundwater contamination may focus on the soil characteristics and site geology, hydrogeology,
hydrology and the nature of the contaminants.
2 Global Water Quality Crisis
In 2019, the World Bank released a worrisome report: Quality Unknown: The
Invisible Water Crisis.
1
The book informed that:
• Water quality is a problem that is growing in complexity as prosperity expands
and new contaminants emerge.
• The increasing range of pollutants varies by sector, geography and development
level.
• There are still deep uncertainties about safe levels and the size and type of
impacts on humans and ecosystems.
• Not only is there no silver bullet solution to solve the water quality problem, but
even coming up with a typology of appropriate responses is challenging.
1
Quality Unknown: The Invisible Water Crisis, Damania, Richard, Sébastien Desbureaux,
Aude-Sophie Rodella, Jason Russ, and Esha Zaveri, Washington, DC.
70
I. Khurana and R. Sen