Item talk:Q228347

{

 "@context": "http://schema.org/",
 "@type": "WebPage",
 "additionalType": "Project",
 "url": "https://www.usgs.gov/mission-areas/water-resources/science/groundwater-quality-current-conditions-and-changes-through",
 "headline": "Groundwater Quality\u2014Current Conditions and Changes Through Time",
 "datePublished": "February 27, 2019",
 "author": [
   {
     "@type": "Person",
     "name": "Bruce Lindsey",
     "url": "https://www.usgs.gov/staff-profiles/bruce-lindsey",
     "identifier": {
       "@type": "PropertyValue",
       "propertyID": "orcid",
       "value": "0000-0002-7180-4319"
     }
   }
 ],
 "description": [
   {
     "@type": "TextObject",
     "text": "Is groundwater the source of your drinking water? The USGS is assessing the quality of groundwater used for public supply using newly collected data along with existing water-quality data. Learn more about this invisible, vital resource so many of us depend on."
   },
   {
     "@type": "TextObject",
     "text": "To characterize the quality of groundwater many people use for drinking, almost 1,100 deep public-supply wells have been sampled within 15 Principal Aquifers. Although samples are from source water prior to any treatment, for context the results are compared to human-health benchmarks for drinking water."
   },
   {
     "@type": "TextObject",
     "text": "Got lithium? A new USGS study reports that about 45% of public-supply wells and about 37% of U.S. domestic supply wells have concentrations of lithium that could present a potential human-health risk."
   },
   {
     "@type": "TextObject",
     "text": "This USGS study helps explain how radium isotopes 224, 226, and 228 make their way into water in the Cambrian-Ordovician aquifer and where concentrations are highest. The study, part of the USGS National Water Quality Assessment Project, reports that water that was recharged into the aquifer long ago, that contains greater amounts of dissolved minerals, and that is low in dissolved oxygen is more likely to leach radium from the surrounding rock."
   },
   {
     "@type": "TextObject",
     "text": "Groundwater samples were analyzed for hundreds of water-quality constituents.  What have we learned?"
   },
   {
     "@type": "TextObject",
     "text": "As part of the Principal Aquifer surveys, scientists were able to shed new light on processes that happen deep underground. These processes\u2014which cause radium to leach from aquifer rocks into groundwater\u2014are responsible for high concentrations of naturally occurring radium in groundwater from the Cambrian-Ordovician aquifer. This aquifer provides more than 630 million gallons of water a day for public supply to parts of Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin."
   },
   {
     "@type": "TextObject",
     "text": "Scientists home in on causes of high radium levels in key Midwestern aquifer"
   },
   {
     "@type": "TextObject",
     "text": "Curious to learn more about groundwater quality near you?  Learn about groundwater quality in 22 Principal Aquifers in nine regions across the United States in informative circulars filled with figures, photos, and water-quality information."
   },
   {
     "@type": "TextObject",
     "text": "The groundwater tested came from public supply wells, before treatment and distribution. Radium can be removed from drinking water through treatment, thereby limiting the health risks it poses. Private wells were not tested during this study, however, more than half a million people get their drinking water from private wells that tap the Cambrian-Ordovician aquifer. These homeowners might consider having their water tested for radium."
   },
   {
     "@type": "TextObject",
     "text": "Groundwater-quality monitoring data collected many regions of the United States have been synthesized into a national assessment of groundwater-quality trends. Between 1991 and 2010, NAWQA completed assessments groundwater-quality in Principal Aquifers across much of the United States.  The assessments characterized groundwater in both deep public-supply wells and shallower domestic (private) wells. Many of those wells have been resampled on a near-decadal timeframe to determine if groundwater quality has changed over time. To date 1,718 wells in 73 well networks\u201420-30 randomly selected wells designed to examine groundwater quality in a region\u2014 have been resampled on a near-decadal time period. The National Water Quality Program  will continue to resample wells periodically to build on our understanding of long-term trends in groundwater quality."
   },
   {
     "@type": "TextObject",
     "text": "Samples collected by the NWQP for the surveys of Principal Aquifers are analyzed for a large suite of regulated and unregulated constituents, including pesticides, radionuclides, metals, and pharmaceuticals. The Principal Aquifer surveys focus on characterizing the quality of groundwater prior to treatment, not the treated drinking water delivered to consumers."
   },
   {
     "@type": "TextObject",
     "text": "The results are explained in easy-to-understand fact sheets, accessible below:"
   },
   {
     "@type": "TextObject",
     "text": "Shorter-term fluctuations in water quality"
   },
   {
     "@type": "TextObject",
     "text": "How has groundwater quality changed over the decades?"
   },
   {
     "@type": "TextObject",
     "text": "About 140 million people\u2014almost one-half of the Nation\u2019s population\u2014rely on groundwater for drinking water. Regional assessments of groundwater quality are one component of the NWQP's ongoing efforts to assess, understand, and forecast the quality of the Nation\u2019s groundwater."
   },
   {
     "@type": "TextObject",
     "text": "An interactive web tool maps these decadal changes in groundwater quality.  Using the web tool, users can easily visualize changes in both inorganic and organic constituent concentrations in groundwater, including chloride, nitrate, several pesticides, and some drinking-water disinfection byproducts. The website also includes a description of the methods used to evaluate changes in groundwater quality and a link to the complete set of data."
   },
   {
     "@type": "TextObject",
     "text": "Three new USGS fact sheets update information on groundwater quality in the nation's most heavily used aquifers. Fact sheets are now available for the Edwards-Trinity aquifer system, the Stream Valley aquifers, and the Colorado Plateau aquifers."
   },
   {
     "@type": "TextObject",
     "text": "As part of the National Water Quality Program (NWQP), groundwater quality is being characterized in 20 of the Nation's 68 Principal Aquifers.  These 20 aquifers supply most of the groundwater used in the United States\u2014they account for more than three-quarters of the groundwater pumped for public supply and 85 percent of the groundwater pumped for domestic supply."
   },
   {
     "@type": "TextObject",
     "text": "As part of the USGS National Water Quality Program, scientists are investigating why, in some areas and at some depths, groundwater quality changes at short timescales\u2014years to months to days to hours, rather than decades.  These fluctuations often are in areas where groundwater and surface water interact. This study, called the Enhanced Trends Network, is evaluating these rapid fluctuations, identifying what causes them, and determining whether the changes are just part of a seasonal trend or are part of an overall long-term trend. For those chemical constituents with human-health benchmarks (thresholds for drinking-water quality), changes in constituent concentrations are being evaluated in the context of those benchmarks\u2014in other words, are there certain conditions under which the groundwater might require treatment before drinking?\n\nLearn more about how the Enhanced Trends Network is providing insight on short-term fluctuations in groundwater quality."
   }
 ],
 "funder": {
   "@type": "Organization",
   "name": "Water Resources Mission Area",
   "url": "https://www.usgs.gov/mission-areas/water-resources"
 },
 "about": [
   {
     "@type": "Thing",
     "name": "Environmental Health"
   },
   {
     "@type": "Thing",
     "name": "Drinkability"
   },
   {
     "@type": "Thing",
     "name": "Geology"
   },
   {
     "@type": "Thing",
     "name": "Science Technology"
   },
   {
     "@type": "Thing",
     "name": "Types of Water"
   },
   {
     "@type": "Thing",
     "name": "Groundwater, Aquifers, Wells, and Springs"
   },
   {
     "@type": "Thing",
     "name": "principal aquifers"
   },
   {
     "@type": "Thing",
     "name": "Energy"
   },
   {
     "@type": "Thing",
     "name": "Drinking and Household Use"
   },
   {
     "@type": "Thing",
     "name": "Information Systems"
   },
   {
     "@type": "Thing",
     "name": "How We Use Water"
   },
   {
     "@type": "Thing",
     "name": "Methods and Analysis"
   },
   {
     "@type": "Thing",
     "name": "Water"
   },
   {
     "@type": "Thing",
     "name": "Groundwater Monitoring"
   },
   {
     "@type": "Thing",
     "name": "Pollution (Chemical and Biological)"
   },
   {
     "@type": "Thing",
     "name": "Measuring and Monitoring Water"
   },
   {
     "@type": "Thing",
     "name": "Common Water Issues"
   },
   {
     "@type": "Thing",
     "name": "Water Quality"
   },
   {
     "@type": "Thing",
     "name": "National Water Quality Program"
   }
 ]

}