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GROUND WATER CONTAMINATION POTENTIAL FROM STORMWATER INFILTRATION
Citation:
Pitt, R. AND S. Clark. GROUND WATER CONTAMINATION POTENTIAL FROM STORMWATER INFILTRATION.
Impact/Purpose:
To inform the public.
Description:
Prior to urbanization, ground water recharge resulted from infiltration of precipitation through pervious surfaces, including grasslands and woods. This infiltration water was relatively uncontaminated. With urbanization, the permeable soil surface area through which recharge by infiltration could occur was reduced. This resulted in much less ground water recharge and greatly increased surface runoff. In addition, the waters available for recharge generally carried increased quantities of pollutants. With urbanization, new sources of ground water recharge also occurred, including a recharge from domestic septic tanks, percolation basins and industrial waste injection wells, and from agricultural and residential irrigation. This paper presents information collected as part of a multi-year research project sponsored by the U.S. EPA and addresses potential ground water problems associated with stormwater infiltration. Several categories of constituents are discussed that are known to affect ground water quality: nutrients, pesticides, other organics, pathogens, metals, and salts and other dissolved mineral. The intention of this paper is to identify known stormwater contaminants as to their potential to contaminate ground water and to provide guidance for their control to minimize this contamination potential.