Ground water contamination by anthropogenic organic compounds from waste disposal sites: Transformations and behaviour

Recent years have witnessed a dramatic rise in production and use of synthetic organic chemicals. It becomes apparent that modern society must either dispose of the enormous quantities of residual products (wastes) that it generates or in some way minimizes or reprocesses those residuals. However, in North America, as in most areas of the world, the safe disposal and management of chemical wastes are becoming increasingly important as occurrrences of ground water contamination are reported. After the disposal of chemical wastes in the ground, the potential for its constituent(s) to leach from a disposal site, to reach the ground water, to persist or to be attenuated, rests upon its inherent physico‐chemical properties, and its resistance to removal by complex interactive physical, chemical and biological reactions in the surrounding soil‐ground water media. Effective strategies for action levels, contingencies plans and health hazards associated with ground water contamination in relation to wastes‐disposal associated problems require an integrative perspective approach encompassing the dynamic pertinent parts of the physical and biochemical environment to the characteristic of the waste. Of most concerns are anthropogenic organic contaminants which can not only be recalcitrant and nonvolatile but may also exhibit mobility across boundaries of the dispoasl site; a combination which may have undesirable environmental consequences. Moreover, unseggragated wastes containing a multitude of compounds represent special complex problems owing to their differing attenuation and chromatographic distribution habits at a disposal site. In almost all situations, prevention of ground water contamination is clearly cheaper than restoration. In that regard, management and planning appear as key consideration factors since the “waste dilemma”; will always be omnipresent. The purpose of this paper is to address the potential fate and behaviour of anthropogenic organic contaminants in ground waters released from disposal sites.