Stressors and Soil Contamination - Sustainable Practices in Geoenvironmental Engineering - page 70

• Not all anthropogenic activities will result in adverse impacts on the environment.
• The degree of environmental impact due to contaminants in a contaminated
ground site is dependent on (a) the nature and distribution of the contaminants,
(b) the various physical, geological, and environmental features of the site, and
(c) existent land use.
• Each type of land use imposes different demands and requirements from the land.
The ideal situation in land utilization matches land suitability with land develop-
ment consistent with environmental sensitivity and sustainability requirements.
• Groundwater is an integral part of land-use considerations.
• Causes and sources of groundwater contamination include wastewater discharges,
injection wells, leachates from landills and surface stockpiles, open dumps and
illegal dumping, underground storage tanks, pipelines, irrigation practices, pro-
duction wells, use of pesticides and herbicides, urban runoff, mining activities, etc.
• To evaluate and determine the nature of geoenvironmental impacts created by the
presence of contaminants in the geoenvironment, one needs to have an apprecia-
tion of the nature of the contaminants and associated events that are responsible
for the impacts. The various activities associated with the production of goods
and services generate waste streams and products. In most instances, these waste
streams and products ind their way into the land environment, either inadver-
tently as in the case of runoffs and spills or by design, i.e., failure of constructed
safe land disposal facilities.
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