How To Write An Epic Essay On The Global Groundwater Pollution Crisis

Are you planning on writing an essay on an environmental topic? You may want to consider talking about the groundwater pollution crisis gripping the world. In the United States alone, there are 20,000 known groundwater pollution sites. That figure is growing every year.

The problems with groundwater pollution are becoming worse, as this recent paper on Science Daily shows. It shows underground water reservoirs are a hotbed for arsenic. You can consider this growing problem if you are looking for a topic for an essay for school.

Experts from DoMyPapers.com have found that many people are talking about groundwater pollution. But how do you write a great research paper on the groundwater pollution problems gripping the world? You may want to start by researching the extent of the crisis and the issues the world is facing. We are going to share some details below.

Potential Essay Topics to Discuss Regarding the Groundwater Pollution Crisis in the United States

You can find a number of great research papers on the groundwater pollution problems in the United States. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a great one here. However, if you don’t know enough to write your own paper, then you may want to keep reading.

Most of the fresh water available on Earth is groundwater. Groundwater is the great hidden resource. Its image is often associated with that of large underground rivers or lakes. However, the reality is very different. We must think of water in underground reservoirs like it is inside a sponge. The sponge is an analogy for the pores and cracks in the soil.

In many cases, aquifers are over-exploited, as they are subjected to exploitation rates that exceed their natural renewal capacity. This is a great topic to consider writing an essay on. The other major environmental problem affecting aquifers is pollution. Drinking contaminated groundwater can have serious health effects. In the long term, it can even lead to certain types of cancer. Ecosystems that depend on discharges from aquifers can also be damaged by the introduction of pollutants.

Contamination can occur when rainwater infiltrates through the soil, comes into contact with the sources of contamination present in the soil and washes them into the groundwater. Other times the entity of the spill or leak is large enough, which means that the contaminant itself reaches the groundwater without the help of rainwater infiltration.

Once contaminants reach the groundwater, they tend to form a concentrate and flow with it. This is called a pollution plume. The slow movement of the aquifers means that in some cases the contamination is not detected for several years, and it can move widely to other areas.

You may want to write an essay or research paper on one of the many types of groundwater pollution. The main sources of groundwater pollution are:

• Natural: Groundwater contains of some compounds of natural origin that depend on the nature of the geological material through which the water moves and the quality of the recharge water. Some aquifers have a naturally high concentration of dissolved constituents such as arsenic, boron and selenium. The effect of these natural sources of groundwater pollution on quality depends on the type of pollutant and its concentrations.
• Agricultural: The main characteristics of pollution from agricultural sources are its diffuse nature and the need for contaminants to pass through the unsaturated zone to the aquifer. In addition to the contribution of many chemical substances derived from pesticides and herbicides, one of the main environmental problems is the excess of nitrates and phosphates from fertilizers. The subsequent discharge of the overloaded aquifer with nutrients (N and P) to a surface mass causes eutrophication of lakes, reservoirs and ponds. The end result may be the disruption of the drinking water supply or an almost destroyed ecosystem.
• Industrial: Industrial activity requires the manufacture, processing, transport and storage of many toxic chemicals. Some can seep into aquifers through spills, leaks, or improper handling. Other industrial sources of pollution are industrial discharges into cesspools or by leaks from systems designed for their treatment.
• Residential: Wastewater discharges can be a source of many types of groundwater pollutants, including bacteria, viruses, nitrates from waste, and organic compounds.

Others topics that you can focus your essay on include household chemicals, such as paints, detergents, solvents, oils, medicines, disinfectants, pesticides and batteries. Injection wells used for the disposal of domestic wastewater can affect the quality of groundwater for consumption if they are located near supply wells.

Similarly, urban waste accumulated in landfills can contaminate the soil and subsequently lead to the leaching of toxic compounds into the groundwater. There is a shortage of essays on urban groundwater waste, so this can be a great research paper.

Create a Great Paper on Groundwater Pollution

There are a lot of great environmental topics that you can write about. Groundwater pollution is one of them. I hope your groundwater pollution essay is an academic success!