Υπόγεια νερά και κίνδυνοι ρύπανσης

ΕΝΗΜΕΡΩΣΗ (στα αγγλικά)

Groundwater constitutes the largest reservoir of freshwater in the world, accounting for over 97% of all freshwaters available on earth (excluding glaciers and ice caps). The remaining 3% is composed mainly of surface water (lakes, rivers, wetlands) and soil moisture. Until recently, focus on groundwater mainly concerned its use as drinking water (e.g. about 75% of EU inhabitants depend on groundwater for their water supply). Groundwater is also an important resource for industry (e.g. cooling waters) and agriculture (irrigation). It has, however, become increasingly obvious that groundwater should not only be viewed as a drinking water reservoir, but also protected for its environmental value.

In this respect, groundwater represents an important link of the hydrological cycle through the maintenance of wetlands and river flows, acting as a buffer through dry periods. In other words, it provides the base flow (i.e. the water which feeds rivers all year round) for surface water systems, many of which are used for water supply and recreation. In many rivers indeed, more than 50% of the annual flow is derived from groundwater.

In low-flow periods in summer, more than 90% of the flow in some rivers may come from groundwater. Hence, deterioration of groundwater quality may directly affect other related aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.

Since groundwater moves slowly through the subsurface, the impact of anthropogenic activities may last for a relatively long time, which means that pollution that occurred some decades ago – whether from agriculture, industry or other human activities – may still be threatening groundwater quality today and, in some cases, will continue to do so for several generations to come. The legacy of the past is clearly visible at large-scale contaminated sites, e.g. industrial sites or harbour areas, where it may be difficult or even impossible, with state-of-the-art technology and a proportionate use of public and/or private money, to rapidly clean up the regional contamination encountered at these locations.

In addition, the experience of remediation of the past 20 years has shown that the measures taken have in most case not been able to completely remove all contaminants and that pollutant sources, even if partially removed, continue to emit for long periods of time (i.e. several generations).

Therefore, an important focus should be on preventing pollution in the first place.
Secondly, since surface water systems receive a continuous discharge of inflowing groundwater, a deteriorated groundwater quality will ultimately be reflected in the quality of surface waters. In other words, the effect of human activity on groundwater quality will eventually also impact on the quality of associated aquatic ecosystems and directly dependent terrestrial ecosystems if so-called natural attenuation reactions such as biodegradation in the subsurface are not sufficient to contain the contaminants.

Finally, groundwater is a “hidden resource” which is quantitatively much more significant than surface water and for which pollution prevention and quality monitoring and restoration are even more difficult than for surface waters mostly due to its inaccessibility. This “hidden” character makes it difficult to adequately locate and quantitatively appreciate pollution impacts, resulting in a lack of awareness and/or evidence regarding the extent of risks and pressures. Recent reports, however, show that pollution from domestic, agricultural and industrial sources is, despite the progress in some fields, still a major concern, either directly through discharges (effluents) or indirectly from the spreading of nitrogen fertilisers and pesticides or through leaching from old landfills or industrial sites (e.g. chlorinated hydrocarbons, heavy metals). For example, around one third of groundwater bodies in Europe currently exceed the nitrate guideline values.

While point sources have caused most of the pollution identified to date, there is evidence that diffuse sources are having an increasing impact on groundwater.

ΕΝΗΜΕΡΩΘΕΙΤΕ ΑΠΟ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΣΕΛΙΔΑ http://ec.europa.eu/environment/civil/prote/cp01_en.htm σχετικά με με τη νομοθεσία για την ΠΡΟΣΤΑΣΙΑ ΤΩΝ ΕΥΡΩΠΑΙΩΝ ΠΟΛΙΤΩΝ, όπου προβλέπονατι και σημαντικές χρηματοδοτήσεις γαι περιπτώσεις, μεταξύ άλλων, μεγάλων περιβαλλοντικών ζημιών! http://ec.europa.eu/environment/civil/prote/finance.htm