Quantification of groundwater contribution to fecal and nutrient pollution at beaches of the Great Lakes

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The beaches of the Great Lakes are an important recreational outlet for over 30 million people, yet because of poor water quality many are often inaccessible due to beach advisories. This has severe economic and societal implications. Policy and management approaches have been insufficient in improving the beach water quality as the contribution of all pollution sources, including the potentially significant role of groundwater is poorly understood. Decisions are therefore currently made in the absence of this sound quantitative science and tend to be less effective. To understand the impact of and how to manage the contribution of groundwater to the degrading water quality is complex. It requires knowledge of not only specific groundwater pollution sources (e.g., septic systems, leaky sewers, agriculture) but also knowledge of the fundamental processes (hydrological, biogeochemical, and microbial) underlying the behavior and movement of pollutants in the groundwater and their discharge to the shallow waters.