**1. Introduction**

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86 Organic Pollutants - Monitoring, Risk and Treatment

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Groundwater is an important part of the water resource. It plays an irreplaceable role in supporting the national economy and social development. In China, more than 1/3 of the to‐ tal water resources are utilized. As surveys shown, over 400 cities of all exploit groundwa‐ ter. More seriously, many of them use groundwater as the only source of water supply.

A series of problems emerge gradually with the utilization of groundwater. Just as river wa‐ ters have been over-used and polluted in many parts of the world, so have groundwater. The organic solvents and dioxins pollution of Love Canal occurred in 1978 is one of the most wide‐ ly known examples, which contributes high rates of cancer and an alarming number of birth defects. Similar things occur frequently in recent decades. Governance of groundwater is so ur‐ gent a major matter of peace and prosperity. After years of researches, the nature and pollu‐ tion mechanism of the contaminants in the groundwater have already got comprehended.

General scope of the organic contamination in groundwater is reviewed in this chapter. We will detail account the types of groundwater organic contamination, the pollution source of groundwater. and the fate and transport of chemicals in groundwater. Also a detailed de‐ scription of the investigation and assessment method in this chapter. At last, we give some comments and suggestion on the groundwater investigation and assessment.

The figure 1 described some source of groundwater contamination, and the transport of chemicals in groundwater. We can see the landfills, leaking sewers, oil storage tanks, pesti‐ cides and fertilizer, and septic tank in the picture, all of these could be the pollution source of groundwater. We also can know the groundwater transport and flow in the unsaturated zone and saturated zone.

© 2013 Wang et al.; licensee InTech. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2013 Wang et al.; licensee InTech. This is a paper distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

all over the Europe, and the content always beyond the European Union drinking water

The Investigation and Assessment on Groundwater Organic Pollution

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/53549

89

The research on organic pollutions of China is at starting stage, but there has serious organic contamination events in some areas. Based on a study of water pollution in sewage system in the Gaobeidian Prefecture of Beijing, 1988, organic substances identified in shallow wells and deep wells in South-east agriculture districts in Beijing. And 32 organic substances iden‐ tified in deep wells, and 52 in shallow wells. Most of that are carcinogens (e.g. Chloroform and benzene) [5]. Analysis of the years groundwater monitoring data, and it is shown that

A study on groundwater organic pollution in region of Beijing, Tianjin and Tangshan con‐ ducted by Institute of Chemistry of Chinese Academy of Sciences shows that the type of or‐ ganic pollutants up to 133 [6]. The researchers Chen Honghan, He Jiangtao and others [7] have summed up the characteristics of organic contamination of shallow groundwater in a study area of the Taihu Lake basin. The results show that the detection probabilities of com‐ pounds in groundwater are higher but the concentrations of the compounds are lower. The concentrations of all the components of BTEX and halocarbons are lower than the standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for drinking water except for ben‐

Different types of groundwater contamination sources can pose different threats to human

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are organic compounds with chemical and physical properties that allow the compounds to move freely between water and air. VOCs have been used extensively in industry, commerce, and households in the United States since the 1940's. Many products contain VOCs including fuels, solvents, paints, glues, adhesives, deo‐ dorizers, refrigerants, and fumigants. In general, these compounds have low molecular weights, high vapor pressures, and low-to-medium water solubilities [8]. Many of these compounds show evidence of animal or human carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, or teratoge‐ nicity. And these compounds are quite persistent in groundwater, because of their relatively low biological and chemical reactivity. This persistence is assisted by low temperatures, ab‐ sence of light and contact with the atmosphere, and comparatively low microbial concentra‐ tions typical of groundwater environments. By comparison with other organic compounds, VOCs may be transported for relatively long distances in groundwater, as a result of their relatively weak sorption affinity and their resistance to degradation. Because of humanhealth concerns, many VOCs have been the focus of national regulations, monitoring, and

standard(0.1μg/l) 10-100 times.

zene in a few sampling sites.

**3.1. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)**

research during the past 10 to 20 years.

the quality of groundwater is gradually worse.

**3. Types of groundwater organic contamination**

health and different problems in health risk assessment (table 1).

**Figure 1.** Diagram of the Groundwater Pollution [1].

## **2. A review of organic compounds in groundwater**

Many studies have been conducted since 1970 to characterize concentrations of organic com‐ pounds in groundwater. In 1977, 16 drinking water wells have been closed in Gray town of Maine state because of there were at least 8 synthetic organics that were detected in drinking water wells. And in 1986, there were at least 33 organics that were detected in drinking wa‐ ter wells in USA [2]. It has been reported trace organic pollutants to be detected in all of 50 states. The U.S. Geological Survey(USGS) collected and assorted the test data the 1926 drink‐ ing water wells in the nation's rural areas from 1986 to 1999. And at least one VOCs were detected from 232 wells and the positive rate was 12%, with the highest positive rate were Chloroform, tetrachloroethylene and so on [3].

Similar conditions are to be found in other countries. In the 80s of last century, based on an inventory of the presence of halogenated substances in raw water of 232 groundwater pumping stations in The Netherlands a compilation of more than 100 organic substances identified in contaminated groundwater, the detection rate of trichloroethylene up to 67% [4]. The organic pollutants could be detected in groundwater in Britain. Flordward studied on 209 water supply wells in Britain shown that the main pollutant in the groundwater are the trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene. Beginning in 1974, Environment Agency of Japan conducted a nationwide comprehensive survey of chemical environmental safety. The trichloroethylene in groundwater was reported for the first time. The European Union is the largest pesticide consumer in the world, more than 600 pesticides were applied. Six of the top 10 were European countries in the pesticide application. Atrazine exists in groundwater all over the Europe, and the content always beyond the European Union drinking water standard(0.1μg/l) 10-100 times.

The research on organic pollutions of China is at starting stage, but there has serious organic contamination events in some areas. Based on a study of water pollution in sewage system in the Gaobeidian Prefecture of Beijing, 1988, organic substances identified in shallow wells and deep wells in South-east agriculture districts in Beijing. And 32 organic substances iden‐ tified in deep wells, and 52 in shallow wells. Most of that are carcinogens (e.g. Chloroform and benzene) [5]. Analysis of the years groundwater monitoring data, and it is shown that the quality of groundwater is gradually worse.

A study on groundwater organic pollution in region of Beijing, Tianjin and Tangshan con‐ ducted by Institute of Chemistry of Chinese Academy of Sciences shows that the type of or‐ ganic pollutants up to 133 [6]. The researchers Chen Honghan, He Jiangtao and others [7] have summed up the characteristics of organic contamination of shallow groundwater in a study area of the Taihu Lake basin. The results show that the detection probabilities of com‐ pounds in groundwater are higher but the concentrations of the compounds are lower. The concentrations of all the components of BTEX and halocarbons are lower than the standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for drinking water except for ben‐ zene in a few sampling sites.
