Introduction

Water is essential for life and all economic activity. It is used for domestic, industrial, and agricultural purposes. Having sufficient water in sufficient quantity and quality helps maintain good health. Access to good quality water is essential to prevent disease and improve quality of life. Water consumption is increasing due to population growth and human activities (Al-Sudani, H. I. Z., 2018). Groundwater is one of the most important factors for the development of any region. It is the main source of water for drinking, agriculture, and industry. In 2003, it was estimated that nearly 50% of drinking water supplies, 40% of industrial water demand, and 20% of water used for irrigation were supplied by groundwater (Foster, S. S.D. & Chilton, P. J., 2003). Worldwide, more than one-third of the water used by humans comes from groundwater. In rural areas, the percentage is even higher, with more than half of the world’s drinking water coming from groundwater (Harter, T., 2015). Distribution problems and poor wastewater management have created serious water quality problems in many parts of the world, exacerbating the water crisis. Human settlements, industries, and agriculture are the main sources of water pollution. Globally, 80% of urban wastewater is discharged untreated into water bodies, and industry dumps millions of tons of heavy metals, solvents, toxic sludge, and other wastes into water bodies every year (WWAP, 2017). Farms discharge wastewater containing large amounts of pesticides, organic matter, drug residues, sediment, and salt into water bodies. The resulting water pollution poses risks to aquatic ecosystems, human health, and production activities (UNEP, A., 2016). Water quality is affected by point and diffuses sources of pollution. These include wastewater discharges, emissions from industrial facilities, runoff from agricultural land, and urban runoff. Water quality can also be affected by floods and droughts due to a lack of awareness and education of users (Khurana Indira & Sen Romit, 2008). In recent years, increasing threats to groundwater quality due to human activities have become a major concern. Overuse of groundwater in some parts of the country has led to poor water quality (Mondal, N. C. et al., 2005). India has 2.2 % of the world's land, 4 % of the world's water resources, and 16 % of the world's population. It is estimated that one-third of the world's population relies on groundwater for drinking (Pawari, M. J. et al., 2015). The purpose of this study is to review research on groundwater pollution and contamination, types of contamination, and the effects of groundwater pollution and contamination on human health. Contaminated water contains elements such as iron, which can cause various diseases such as kidney and liver diseases even in healthy people. This review discusses the main causes of groundwater contamination and its health effects. This review discusses some groundwater detection methods (Pawari, M. J., et al., 2015).

What is groundwater pollution?

The contamination of the groundwater occurs as a result of the release of contaminants into the ground of the natural underground, known as the Obi water layer. When contaminants enter groundwater, they cause contamination, which is a type of water pollution caused primarily by the discharge of substances, whether intentional or accidental, by human activities or natural causes. The pollutants usually move within aquifers depending on biological, physical, and chemical properties. Processes such as diffusion, dispersion, adsorption, and the speed of moving water often facilitate the movement. However, in general, the movement of pollutants in the water layer is generally slow and thus tends to be high and called trains. As the train spreads, it can be connected to a spring or soil, which makes human consumption dangerous (Arindom Ghosh- Groundwater Pollution).

Groundwater Contamination

More than 50% of India’s population depends on groundwater for drinking water. Groundwater is also one of our most important sources of water for irrigation. Unfortunately, groundwater is susceptible to contamination. Groundwater contamination occurs when man-made products such as gasoline, oil, road salt, and chemicals get into groundwater, making it unsafe and unfit for human use. Materials present on the soil surface can migrate through the soil and eventually reach groundwater - for example, pesticides and fertilizers can leach into groundwater over time. Road salt, hazardous materials from mine sites, and used motor oil can also leach into groundwater. Additionally, untreated waste from septic systems and toxic chemicals leaking from underground tanks and landfills can contaminate groundwater (Potential threats to tap groundwater).

Major Groundwater Contamination Problems in India

1. Chemicals and Road Salt

The widespread use of chemicals and road salt is also a source of potential groundwater contamination. Chemicals include products used on lawns and farms to kill weeds and insects and to fertilize plants, as well as other products used in homes and businesses. When it rains, these chemicals can seep into the ground and eventually into the water. Road salt is used in the winter to melt ice on roads to keep cars from slipping. As the ice melts, the salt washes off the roads and eventually into the water (Potential threats to tap groundwater).

2. Atmospheric Contaminants

Since groundwater is a part of the water cycle, pollution of substances in other parts of the cycle, such as the atmosphere and body of the groundwater, can ultimately transfer to the groundwater supply (Potential threats to tap groundwater).

3. Contaminated Land

Industrial activities can cause soil contamination with a variety of inorganic and organic pollutants, such as heavy metals, hydrocarbons, and organic solvents, which can lead to severe contamination of groundwater. Compared to other countries, contaminated land is the major cause of groundwater contamination in India. The legacy of contamination from past and present anthropogenic activities has caused and will continue to cause severe groundwater contamination (Tellam, J. H. 1994; Lerner, D. N., & Tellam, J. H. 1992).

4. Heavy Metals

Heavy metals are generally present in groundwater in trace amounts. The most common sources of contamination include mining, urban and industrial effluents, agricultural wastes, sewage sludge, fertilizers, and fossil fuels. Heavy metals are dangerous because they tend to be bioaccumulation. Bioaccumulation refers to the increase in the concentration of a chemical inside an organism over time compared to the concentration of the chemical in the environment. Metals can be highly toxic to humans even in low concentrations. Heavy metals such as mercury (Hg), zinc (Zn), nickel (Ni), arsenic (As), lead (Pb), copper (Cu), chromium (Cr), and cadmium (Cd) are more toxic (Verma, R., & Dwivedi, P. 2013).

5. Acidification

Acidified precipitation is a widely known phenomenon. The phenomenon of "acid rain" has been known for more than a century and is mainly caused by the release of sulfur and nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere. Acid precipitation affects groundwater, which is considered scarce. Other causes of groundwater acidity include natural water-rock interactions, contamination by industrial acids, and the decomposition of other pollutants (Ford, M. et al. 1992).

6. Landfill

Potential discharge “The impact on the quality of the groundwater depends on the development strategy of discharge and the current discussion between" deterrence’’. To understand the impact of a landfill on groundwater, the composition of the landfill leachate must be known. In general, the composition of leachate varies with waste type, landfill design and methods, analytical procedures, and timing. Most of the previous references are generally related to filling the fields of mixed households, generally containing organic paintings, and are biodegradable, and due to low initial density and low biodegradation. I will receive. Nevertheless, individual industrial solid waste is a land filled with the "Monoji Sport" object in principle, and only one or maybe only two types of waste. Examples of such sites include mineral and mine waste deposits (coal shale, coal tailings, quarry fines, etc.), and pulverized fuel ash (P.F.A.) from coal-fired power plants. Relatively few references have been found on mono-erosion burials (Robinson, H., and Gronow, J., 1992). Pollution of dumpsite (an engineering landfill) is identified as a significant threat to groundwater resources (Singh, U. K., et al. 2008). 

7. Microbial Contaminants

Microbial contamination of groundwater occurs due to wastewater of human and animal origin. The wide varieties of pathoagens that can be present in wastewater include pathogenic bacteria, viruses, and protozoa. These contaminants can pose a potentially serious threat to public health if present in water supplies. Microbial contaminants can enter the ground through leaking sewer systems, leaking septic tanks, drainage wells, mine shafts used as disposal routes, landfills, or wastewater from pits spread on the ground as fertilizer. The possibility of infectious disease transmission through contaminated groundwater is widely recognized, and several isolated cases of contamination have been reported (WEISSMAN, J. B. et coll. 1976; & Lippi, E.C. 1981).

8. Pesticide

Pesticides include insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides, all of which are widely used by industry, government agencies, and agriculture. Pesticides are both toxic and persistent in the environment and can pose potentially significant health risks; especially given their ability to bioaccumulate in the food chain. Groundwater contamination associated with nitrogen fertilizers and pesticides from widespread routine land uses and point sources is a serious problem. The EU Drinking Water Directive sets maximum permissible concentrations in drinking water for individual pesticides at very low levels (0.01µs/cm) (Hallberg, G. R., 1987).

9 Sewers, cesspits, and septic tanks

Drainage pits and septic tanks discharge sewage and wastewater directly into the subsurface environment and can therefore cause groundwater contamination. The occurrence of wastewater contamination is related to the operation and construction of the wastewater containment and treatment system and the hydrogeology of the area. Sewers are responsible for the unintentional discharge, through leaks, of large volumes of wastewater into the groundwater beneath cities and less urbanized areas from which the wastewater originally originated. The most common contaminants found in the groundwater beneath these systems are bacteria, viruses, and nitrates (Gupta, R., et al., 2018).

10. Groundwater Nitrate Contamination

Inorganic contamination of the most significant concern in groundwater is nitrate ions, which usually occur in aquifers near rural and suburban populations. Nitrate-nitrogen levels in uncontaminated groundwater are usually less than 2 ppm, but nitrate-nitrogen in groundwater comes primarily from four sources:

- Use of nitrogenous, inorganic, and animal manure fertilizers.

- Atmospheric deposition.

- Human waste is dumped into septic tanks.

- Soil cultivation (Al-Sudani, H. I. Z. 2019; & Barzinji, D. A. M., et al. 2014).

Potential Health Problems

Water quality and public health are closely linked (Brutland, H.G., 2001). Human life depends primarily on drinking water (Michiels, W. C., & Moyson, D. L. E,. 2000). Many theories suggest that water is the source of transmission of many waterborne diseases due to bacterial contamination of drinking water, which is the greatest risk factor for the spread of diseases causing illness and death ((Bartram, J., & Ballance, R. Eds., 1996). Despite global efforts and the availability of modern techniques for the production of safe drinking water, it has been reported that the transmission of waterborne disease is a matter of major concern (Stevens, M., et al., 1995). Contaminations of drinking water during storage, lack of regulations, and limited public understanding and awareness have been documented. The negative effects of mechanical failures, human error, or source water degradation, even with the best purification system and disinfection process, can sometimes lead to poor water quality (Mac Kenzie, W. R., et al. 1994; Roefer, P. A., et al. 1996; & Geldreich, E. E. 2020).  Health risks can be caused by high concentrations of chemicals in drinking water. However, only a few bacterial contaminations pose a risk to consumer health (WHO 2011). Epidemiological studies have shown that poor quality drinking water (also called fecal, environmentally contaminated, or chlorinated water) as the main route of infection is responsible for many waterborne diseases (Lee, G. F., & Jones-Lee, A., 1993).

Examples of ways in which waterborne diseases are transmitted are:

1. Ingestion of untreated, inadequately treated, or contaminated water, directly or indirectly, during food preparation.

2. Contact with contaminated water such as freshwater, seawater, or bath water.

Several microorganisms and synthetic chemicals can contaminate groundwater. Drinking water that contains bacteria or viruses can cause diseases such as hepatitis and cholera. Methemoglobinemia, or blue baby syndrome, is a disease affecting infants that can be caused by drinking water that is high in nitrates. Serious health effects of lead include learning disabilities in children; neurological, kidney, and liver problems; and pregnancy risks. These include aluminum, antimony, arsenic, barium, cadmium, chloride, dissolved solids, iron, lead, and zinc. Inorganic contaminants present in groundwater Table 1 and Table 2 Organic contaminants and their effects. Volatile organic compounds, plasticizers, chlorinated solvents, pesticides, dioxins, pharmaceuticals, and antibiotic contaminants present in groundwater cause many health problems for humans (Pawari, M. J., & Gawande, S. A. G. A. R., 2015).

Table: 1 Inorganic contaminants and their effects

Table: 2 Organic contaminants and their effects

Conclusion

The quality of groundwater is constantly getting polluted due to agricultural, industrial, and urban reasons, due to mining and landfill activity, and the waste chemical material present in them which is polluting the groundwater due to seepage. Underground storage tanks, septic pipes, and other pipelines due to which oil, organic and inorganic substances are polluting the groundwater. Chemical pesticides, fertilizers, and human, and animal wastes, are polluting the soil and groundwater. The chemical substances present in them, are harming human beings and the environment by polluting the water changing the quality of water through the leaching process of groundwater, and changing their physical, chemical, and biological nature. Due to contamination of groundwater, human health is suffering from many diseases, mainly kidney, liver, typhoid, diarrhea, hepatitis, etc. It is the duty of all of us to save groundwater from getting polluted, we have to clean the groundwater polluted areas and reduce the use of chemical fertilizers, and waste materials, and run programs to ensure that we save more and more groundwater polluted areas.

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