Groundwater Contaminant

In 2019 USGS completed a study designed to develop and evaluate a phased site-assessment approach for determining the hydrologic suitability of sites being considered for permeable reactive barrier installation on Cape Cod. The approach provides a template for town officials and other stakeholders to follow when considering PRBs for passive treatment of nitrogen in groundwater on Cape Cod and...

The U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are collaborating on a study to better understand changes to groundwater quality beneath a densely developed coastal neighborhood as it undergoes conversion from onsite wastewater disposal to municipal sewering.

The USGS and the New Hampshire Department of Transportation are conducting preliminary research into the causes of iron fouling in water at roadway construction sites where blasted bedrock is used as on-site fill material.

The USGS, the University of New Hampshire, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, and the Maine Geological Survey are collaborating on a study of a novel shallow well design that might be able to provide safe drinking water to domestic well users in arsenic-prone parts of the Nation.

The USGS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are examining the potential effects of droughts on the arsenic hazard in private well water across the Nation.

Study estimates about 2.1 million people using wells high in arsenic: USGS research directly supports federal agencies concerned with public health—specifically, understanding natural hazards in private domestic drinking water and the risk they pose to human health.