Pollutants are Seeping Into Drinking Water From Karst Regions at an Alarming Rate

Scientists have been looking at how easily contaminants can enter groundwater sources in karst areas and how it could impact drinking water safety.

An international team headed by Junior Professor Dr. Andreas Hartmann of the University of Freiburg's Chair of Hydrological Modeling and Water Resources compared the time it takes for toxins to decompose in carbonate rock regions in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East with the time it takes for water to seep down from the surface to the subsurface.

The findings were presented in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a scientific journal (PNAS).

Limestone aquifers have certain properties that make them especially vulnerable to pollution. Sinking streams and sinkholes enable unfiltered pollutants to travel quickly from the ground surface to the underlying aquifer. This function, combined with rapid groundwater flow in conduits expanded by mineral dissolution (karst aquifers) and the challenge of characterizing and controlling the extremely heterogeneous karst subsurface, raises the risk of water quality deterioration. The karst regions' dependence on groundwater for drinking sources has the potential to have adverse public health consequences.

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