Quality of Water from Domestic Wells in Principal Aquifers of the United States, 1991-2004: Overview of Major Findings

Circular ◽  
2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie A. DeSimone ◽  
Pixie A. Hamilton ◽  
Robert J. Gilliom
Author(s):  
Donald Worster

When we drive by a modern farm, we still expect to see green plants sprouting from the earth, bearing the promise of food or cooking oil or a cotton shirt. Pulling up one of those plants, we are still prepared to find dirt clinging to its roots. Even in this age of high-tech euphoria, agriculture remains essentially a matter of plants growing in the soil. But another element besides soil has always been a part of the farmer’s life-water. Farming is not only growing crops on a piece of land, it is also growing crops in water. I don’t mean a hydroponics lab. I mean that the farmer and his plants inescapably are participants in the natural cycle of water on this planet. Water is a more volatile, uncertain element than soil in the agricultural equation. Soil naturally stays there on the farm, unless poor management intervenes, whereas water is by nature forever on the move, falling from the clouds, soaking down to roots, running off in streams to the sea. We must farm rivers and the flow of water as well as fields and pastures if we are to continue to thrive. But it has never been easy to extract a living from something so mobile and elusive, so relentless and yet so vulnerable as water. If there is to be a long-term, sustainable agriculture in the United States or elsewhere, farmers must think and act in accord with the flow of water over, under, through, and beyond their farms. Preserving the fertility of the soil resource is critical to sustaining it, of course, but not more so than maintaining the quality of water. In many ways, the two ideals are one. And their failure is one, as when rain erodes the topsoil and creeks and rivers suffer. But there are differences between those two resources, differences we must understand and respect. Unlike soil, water cannot be “built.” It can be lost to the farmer, or it can be diverted, polluted, misused, or over-appropriated, but it can never be deepened or enhanced as soil can be.


2021 ◽  
Vol 274 ◽  
pp. 08007
Author(s):  
Andrey Busarev ◽  
Irina Sheshegova ◽  
Liliya Khisameeva

Recently, the amount of natural waters contaminated with petroleum products, which enter surface sources together with wastewater, has increased. Therefore, the issues of natural water purification of petroleum products are given great importance. Purification of natural waters from petroleum products is possible by sorption and ultrafiltration methods. Kazan State University of Architecture and Engineering conducted research on the purification of natural waters from petroleum products in adsorption filters using various sorbents, as well as membrane separators with ultrafiltration modules from various manufacturers. As a loading of sorption filters, it is recommended to use activated charcoal as a sorbent that is optimal in terms of price and quality of water purification. The membrane modules manufactured in Europe and the United States, have a high cleaning effect from petroleum products and a sufficiently high productivity. However, they are extremely expensive.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document