Groundwater Contamination by Detergents and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons – A Global Problem of Organic Contaminants: Is the Solution Locally Specific?

The ever-increasing demand of our technological society has generated a global problem of groundwater pollution by man-made products and/or their metabolites. The penetration of detergents and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) originating from anthropogenic sources constitutes a major issue of environmental and health concern. In Israel, the concentrations of nonbiodegradable nonionic detergents in sewage influents, effluents, and water wells were found to be in the range of 1-2.60, 0.25-0-50 and 0.12-0.78 mg/liter respectively. These results translate the global problem of groundwater pollution into the local problem of groundwater contaminated by synthetic detergents with all the environmental, health, societal, technological, economic and political issues involved. The respective base-line data concerning PAHs is not available as yet. Although some of the solutions are locally specific they cannot be applied independently of what is being done in this respect worldwide. The long-term solution requires international cooperation and collaboration.