Groundwater pollution and remediation: trends and practices

One of the major environmental problems today is groundwater pollution. Pollutants originating from both anthropogenic and natural activities classified into point sources and non-point sources tend to threaten groundwater. This polluted groundwater in turn threatens both human and environmental health through acute and chronic exposures. In order to provide protection to both human and environmental health, there is need to prevent groundwater pollution in the first place by ensuring the elimination of pollutants at their sources. However, If pollution eventually occurs, the polluted groundwater can be remedied using a wide variety of techniques categorized into ex-situ methods (i.e. pumping out of water from aquifer and treating on the surface, e.g. steam stripping, carbon adsorption, chemical oxidation, thermal treatment, bioremediation, etc) and in-situ methods (i.e. in-place treatment of water, e.g. air-sparging, permeable reactive barriers, nanoremediation, monitored natural attenuation, bioremediation, etc). Common remedial measures such as boiling, filtration, sedimentation and chlorination should be adopted for treatment of water before consumption on the home front. A typical case of groundwater pollution is that of Ogoniland, Niger-Delta, Nigeria, contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons but yet to be given any adequate remedial attention. Remediation as an option may not be feasible, hence, prevention is always the best option