Abstract

Groundwater quality is extremely important for people’s health. Currently, there has been a global rise in growth of interest in environmental issues, including groundwater quality. Groundwater contamination constitutes one of the most important natural resources in drinking water supply in both rural and urban areas. With the coming of the new century, the serious deterioration of ground water quality has been observed in both developed and developing nations with the industrialized and densely populated regions being the most hit with the pollution. The extent of its damage is difficult to determine due to its complexities of contaminants, in predicting their movements and fate in the groundwater system. The demand for drinking water supply has increased because of the global rise in population and food demand. This rise has further enhanced the call to better management of our groundwater aquifers by preventing any further pollution than remediating the already polluted ones. In this short article, groundwater problems and sources are described, health effects related to the pollution are briefly highlighted and lastly the future prospects with respect to groundwater mitigation and prevention are included. The onus to minimize the pollution and to confine and destroy the contaminants before they completely destroy our aquifers still remains on us. This is a battle that is very much achievable and it is our noble duty to see to it that our groundwater aquifers are rid of this pollution.

Keywords: Groundwater; Contamination; Industrialized; Demand; Aquifers; Health effects