A global perspective on assessing groundwater quality

Abstract

An assessment of global groundwater quality is needed in response to the threats posed by anthropogenic and geogenic contaminants. This essay summarises the challenges involved, including a large number of potentially relevant water quality parameters, the poor availability of data in many regions and the complex nature of groundwater systems. Direct monitoring data can sometimes be augmented by indirect methods such as earth observations, and by involving citizen science. A new web portal is being developed to complement existing databases.

Integration of GIS and Water-Quality Index for Preliminary Assessment of Groundwater Suitability for Human Consumption and Irrigation in Semi-Arid Region

“…Water quality was assessed using a standard WQI method [28,29] and ranked into five categories: excellent, good, medium, poor, and extremely poor [30,31], (Table 2). This classification serves as a decision-making tool for assessing groundwater quality across various applications, consolidating diverse data into a single metric.…”

Topical Collection: International Year of Groundwater—managing future societal and environmental challenges

“…Human pressures are still affecting groundwater quality, causing pollution in highly urbanized systems, in agricultural and livestock areas, and also in less populated areas, where the limitations of remedial infrastructure and pollution prevention are a threat to groundwater resources (Misstear et al 2022;this issue). Modern lifestyle has created a new generation of pollutants (emerging contaminants, such as pharmaceuticals, metabolites, personal care products, perand polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), micro-and nanoplastics), the occurrence of which are still underestimated due to a lack of analytical techniques and policy restrictions (Lapworth et al 2022;this issue).…”

Groundwater quality: global challenges, emerging threats and novel approaches

“…Important themes including geoinformatics, remote sensing and the use of 'big' data science will be key areas of change in further developing the understanding of groundwater quality challenges. These are covered partly by WWQA (2021) and Misstear et al (2022). Other novel approaches regarding groundwater quality monitoring are covered in the following section.…”

“…Assessing and protecting groundwater quality is vital to our understanding of water resources and subsequently managing groundwater effectively. Threats to groundwater quality derive from both naturally occurring contaminants and those introduced or mobilised due to human activities (Misstear et al 2022). Groundwater provides a wide range of functions, is often a critical drinking-water source-e.g.…”