Groundwater-Related Risk Assessment - Dealing with Contaminated Sites: From Theory Towards Practical Application - page 762

Fig. 17.4 An example of a picture showing young healthy looking people in association with
drinking water, illustrating the extremely positive sentiment in humans that water, in its meaning
as the liquid product that we drink, generates (photo RIVM; reproduced with permission)
potential due to flooding. And in many parts of the world where water has tradition-
ally been available in seemingly endless amounts, this ubiquitousness has led, and
leads today, to large-scale spilling.
However, in reference to water, few people think about ground water. Generally
speaking, if groundwater is ever appreciated by a large part of the general public,
it is for one single reason: it gives us drinking water. And, one thing is certain:
those individuals who are dependent on private water wells are very much aware
of the valuable liquid that resides in the subsoil. One interesting aspect of all this
is the widespread appreciation for mineral waters, that is, waters originating from
entities of the earth's crust that have not been influenced by human activities and
generally are only influenced by soil and rocky materials from which the water
takes its minerals. These waters usually have had a relatively long residence time,
and, hence, have had more time for minerals to dissolve in them. These mineral
waters are generally associated with a healthy lifestyle and sometimes relate to a
'back to nature' kind of attitude. In fact, mineral water comes from the same source
as drinking water from the tap, namely groundwater, but from locations deeper or
further away from human influences, so that purification measures generally are not
necessary. It can happen, however, that drinking water limits are exceeded in mineral
water, for example, with regard to sulphate concentration.
Typically, groundwater is one of the few natural resources that are renew-
able within a short time frame, that is, in relation to the abstraction rates by
humans. However, since contaminants can migrate easily from the surface down
to the groundwater and are then contained within the pore spaces of the under-
ground matrix, they are not always easy to eliminate. Groundwater is therefore very
vulnerable to contamination.