Citizen's Guide to Ground-Water Protection

By Environmental Protection Agency

Book Id: WPLBN0000044048
Format Type: PDF eBook:
File Size: 2.09 MB
Reproduction Date: 2007

Title:	Citizen's Guide to Ground-Water Protection
Author:	Environmental Protection Agency
Volume:
Language:	English
Subject:	Ecology, Natural resource issues, Environemtal protection
Collections:	Environmental Awareness Library Collection
Historic Publication Date:
Publisher:	United States Environmental Protection Agency


Citation APA MLA Chicago Protection Agency, B. E. (n.d.). Citizen's Guide to Ground-Water Protection. Retrieved from http://gutenberg.cc/

Description
Excerpt: PREFACE: Half of all Americans and more than 95 percent of rural Americans get their household water supplies from underground sources of water, or ground water. Ground water also is used for about half of the nation’s agricultural irrigation and nearly one-third of the industrial water needs. This makes ground water a vitally important national resource. Over the last 10 years, however, public attention has been drawn to incidents of ground-water contamination. This has led to the development of ground-water protection programs at federal, state, and local levels. Because ground-water supplies and conditions vary from one area to another, the responsibility for protecting a community’s ground-water supplies rests substantially with the local community. If your community relies on ground water to supply any portion of its fresh water needs, you, the citizen, will be directly affected by the success or failure of a ground-water protection program. Equally important, you, the citizen, can directly affect the success or failure of your community’s ground-water protection efforts. This guide is intended to help you take an active and positive role in protecting your community’s ground-water supplies. It will introduce you to the natural cycle that supplies the earth with ground Water, briefly explain how ground water can become contaminated, examine ways to protect our vulnerable ground-water supplies, and, most important of all, describe the roles you and your community can play in protecting valuable ground-water supplies.

Table of Contents
CONTENTS Page PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii CHAPTER I. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 What is Ground Water, and Where Does It Come From? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Where is Ground Water Stored? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Does Ground Water Move? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 How is Ground Water Used? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 CHAPTER II. Ground-Water Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 How Does Ground Water Become Contaminated? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . What Kinds of Substances Can Contaminate Ground Water, 3 and Where Do They Come From? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 What Can Be Done After Contamination Has Occurred? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 CHAPTER III. Government Ground-Water Protection Activities . . . . . . 8 Are There Federal Laws and Programs to Protect Ground Water? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Do the States Have Laws or Programs to Protect Ground Water? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 CHAPTER IV. Citizen and Community Roles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 What Information Do You and Your Community Need? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 What Can Your Community Do to Protect Its Ground Water? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 How Can You Clean Up Your Own Act? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 REFERENCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 APPENDICES New Information for the 1999 Reprinted Edition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Appendix 1. Potentially Harmful Components of Common Household Products . . . . . 28