Ways to Clean Groundwater under Direct Influence of Surface Water

Although you may not have heard of it, the bowel infection giardiasis afflicts more than 2.5 million people in the United States every year. In third world countries, it can affect as much as 20-30% of the population. The reason it’s so prevalent is that it is caused by a protozoan parasite that infiltrates water systems everywhere on the globe. If these protozoans infuse your system, you will start feeling very ill. Therefore, it’s important for municipal water systems to stick to strict standards on groundwater under the direct influence of surface water in order to decrease protozoan populations and maintain public health.

Groundwater is called under the influence of surface water if there is a defineable connection between the two. Groundwater includes private water sources and underground springs. Surface water is more prone to contaminants which, if a direct link exists, can be passed through to the groundwater. Water treatment facilities need to be able to specify the source of the parasites in order to make it possible to eliminate the problem where it begins. Since surface water can feed into many underground water reserves, the problem of giardiasis can spread rapidly unless the source is isolated and treated.

As per the Surface Water Treatment Rule established in 1989, the acceptable tolerance for Giardia and other common parasites in drinking water is zero. That is because these parasites represent a health risk to the public. This rule also set forth the guidelines for the treatments that need to be used to eliminate the contaminants and established the requirements that drinking water which is becoming a part of the distribution system must have constant disinfection and an amount of disinfectant in the system that that is discernible.

The Federal government expects that all groundwater under the influence of surface water be put through a three-step process in order to ascertain the amount of contamination. These steps are:
1. Testing in order to determine the purity of the water and the types of contaminants that it holds.
2. Monitoring daily for the long-term.
3. Subsequent checks for water quality.

The Department of Health insists that water systems using contaminated groundwater under the direct influence of surface water must take extra steps it has outlined in order to fix the problems. The water treatment system may be required to filter or clean all of its water and that the facility must be run by licensed technicians. The guidelines are believed to be working in almost all of the areas, too. Unfortunately, some Giardia and other parasites are still figuring out ways to infiltrate the systems that are in place. This is not acceptable, and water management will continue to be monitored until the zero tolerance set up by the rule is the way it really is.

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