Impact of Human Activities on Groundwater Quality

Dear Colleagues,

It is largely accepted that groundwater resources are becoming more and more threatened by climate change, and by human intervention in the hydrologic cycle. Population growth and economic development amplify the water needs of society, and continuously increase the pressure on the groundwater resources. A large portion of the global population has limited access to good quality water sources, and the situation is worsening as the resources are under stress by overexploitation and by qualitative degradation. The contamination of the groundwater bodies dramatically alters their hydrogeochemical features, as well as their ability to yield good quality water, resulting in a potential negative impact on human health. Moreover, treatment actions for the removal of pollutants are generally costly and technically difficult to implement, while the natural attenuation may take decades or even centuries. New and emerging harmful substances add to the list of potential pollutants, which are ever increasing. Therefore, it is very important to understand the mechanisms of transfer and the fate of the contaminants to the underground environment in order to efficiently diminish the impact of human activity on the groundwater resources.

The Special Issue aims to gather high-quality papers emphasizing different aspects of the impact of human activity on the quality of groundwater.

Proposed topics may refer, but are not limited to, the following: groundwater pollution related to agriculture (application of chemicals to agricultural lands, and disposal of agricultural waste), industry (spills and leaks of chemicals, aerial transported contaminants able to affect the aquifers, and acid mine drainage and related pollution), urban development (wastewater, leachate from landfills, and urban runoff), transportation, and other point and diffuse sources of contaminants.

Submitted contributions will go through a peer review process performed by independent reviewers. Original case studies and review papers are invited for publication in this Special Issue.

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• groundwater
• pollution
• human impact
• hydrogeochemistry
• industry
• mining
• agriculture
• contaminant transport
• water quality
• monitoring