Summary:
- Groundwater pollutants are the same as surface water pollutants: municipal, agricultural, and industrial.
- Groundwater is susceptible to pollutants that infiltrate into the ground from underground storage tanks or agricultural fields.
- About 25% of the usable groundwater and 45% of municipal groundwater supplies in the United States are polluted.
- Rock and soil filters some pollutants as water travels down to and through an aquifer.
- A plume containing pollutants travels outward from the source and through the aquifer in the direction the water is moving.