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Preface

The conference Karst Groundwater Contamination and Public Health took place in the
Hilton Condado Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on January 27–30, 2016. The 76
attendees were 45 professionals, 26 students, and 5 family members. The attendees came from
seven countries: Austria, Denmark, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and the United
States. There were 30 oral presentations, 20 poster presentations, and 12 short, “snap” talks.
The presenters were invited to contribute written versions of their presentations to this volume.
The conference was organized by the Karst Waters Institute, and the program and an initial
set of abstracts were published as KWI Special Publication 19, available on-line at the KWI
website. Special Publication 19 also contains information on the mid-conference field trip and
the guidebook for the two-day field trip that followed the conference.
This volume presents the written contributions. In order to preserve a complete record
of the conference, all presentations are included except for some of the snap talks. They are of
three varieties:

Full papers: These were reviewed by the editors and, if necessary, by outside reviewers.
Authors were asked to revise their papers as needed.
Extended Abstracts: Authors who did not wish to publish their complete work in the
Proceedings were invited to prepare a summary as an extended abstract. These extended
abstracts, essentially short papers, contain figures and references and should be considered
citable sources of information. The extended abstracts were reviewed by the editors and
modified as necessary.
Additional Papers: A few authors who did not wish to contribute to the Proceedings are
represented by their original program abstracts. These have been combined into a single
document that appears in the Summary section of the book.
In addition to the formal papers, the book contains introductory chapters that set forth the
expectations of the conference and its interdisciplinary framework. The conference closed with
an open discussion of needed research directions and opportunities. A summary of this dis-
cussion appears in the final chapter of the book.

University Park, USA William B. White

Charlottesville, USA Janet S. Herman
Lewisburg, USA Ellen K. Herman
Washington, USA Marian Rutigliano
February 2017

v
Organizing Committee

Dorothy J. Vesper, West Virginia University, Conference Chair

Ingrid Y. Padilla, University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez, Field Trip Coordinator
Thomas E. Miller, University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez, Field Trip Leader
Ellen K. Herman, Bucknell University, Technical Program Co-Chair
Janet S. Herman, University of Virginia, Technical Program Co-Chair
Luis Rivera-Gonzalez, Washington University in St. Louis, Technical Program
Marian Rutigliano, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Technical Program
John W. Hess, Geological Society of America Foundation, Budget Manager
William B. White, The Pennsylvania State University, Publication Editor
Sarah K. Carmichael, Appalachian State University, Website Manager
Harvey DuChene, Karst Waters Institute, KWI Treasurer
William K. Jones, Karst Waters Institute, KWI Liaison
Ljiljana Rajic, Northeastern University, PROTECT Liaison

vii
Acknowledgements

The conference was organized by the Karst Waters Institute with the active cooperation of the
Puerto Rico Testsite for Exploring Contamination Threats (PROTECT). We thank Elizabeth L.
White for her assistance with proof-reading and revising figures.
The conference received support from an NIH—National Institute of Environmental Health
Sciences R13 Conference Grant (ES026030-01), a National Science Foundation EAR
Conference Support Grant (#1555407), and the Edwards Aquifer Authority. Additional
administrative support was provided by West Virginia University.

ix
Contents

Part I Introduction to the Conference

Contaminated Groundwater in Karst: Why Is It an Issue? An Introduction
to the KWI San Juan Conference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
William B. White, Janet S. Herman, Ellen K. Herman, and Marian Rutigliano
Public Health and Karst Groundwater Contamination:
From Multidisciplinary Research to Exposure Prevention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Heather F. Henry and William A. Suk

Part II Keynote Papers

Team Science Applied to Environmental Health Research:
Karst Hydrogeology and Preterm Birth in Puerto Rico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
José F. Cordero, John D. Meeker, Rita Loch-Caruso, Roger Giese,
Ingrid Padilla, Dorothy Vesper, David Kaeli, Thomas Sheahan,
Phil Brown, Carmen M. Vélez-Vega, and Akram N. Alshawabkeh
Flow Routing in the Karst of Puerto Rico. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Thomas E. Miller, Gilles Brocard, and Jane Willenbring
Fate, Transport, and Exposure of Emerging and Legacy
Contaminants in Karst Systems: State of Knowledge and Uncertainty . . . . . . . . 33
Ingrid Y. Padilla and Dorothy J. Vesper
Puerto Rico’s Karst Protection—Beyond the Laws and Regulations . . . . . . . . . . 51
Abel Vale-Nieves
Contaminant Transport in Karst Aquifers: Systematics and Mechanisms . . . . . . 55
William B. White

Part III Karst Groundwater Contaminants and Tools for Their Evaluation
Trace Metal Accumulation and Re-mobilization in Phreatic Karst Conduits. . . . 85
Amy L. Brown and Jonathan B. Martin
Evaluation of Spill Response System for Mammoth Cave National
Park Using Quantitative Dye Tracer Studies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
JeTara Brown, Thomas Byl, Rickard Toomey III, and Lonnie Sharpe Jr.
Bioremediation Potential in Karst Aquifers of Tennessee and Kentucky . . . . . . . 97
Thomas Byl, Michael Bradley, Lashun K. Thomas, and Roger Painter

xi
xii Contents

Investigating and Remediating Contaminated Karst Aquifers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Malcolm S. Field
Electrochemical Remediation of Contaminated Groundwater:
Pilot Scale Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Savannah Gregor, Noushin Fallahpour, Ljiljana Rajic, and Akram Alshawabkeh
Water Tracing Tests and Public Health in Karst Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
William K. Jones
Turbidity as an Indicator of Contamination in Karst Springs:
A Short Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Ferry Schiperski
Using Nutrient Data and Dye Tracing to Infer Groundwater
Flow Paths and Contaminant Transfer Time in Grayson-Gunnar Cave,
Monticello, KY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
G.V. Tagne and L.J. Florea
Development and Testing of Hydrogel Beads as Potential
Floating Tracers of Contaminant Movement in Karst Aquifers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Dorothy J. Vesper, Habib Bravo-Ruiz, Amanda F. Laskoskie,
and Harry M. Edenborn

Part IV Contaminant Exposure and Public Health

Cave Characterization in the North Karst Belt Zone of Puerto Rico:
Cave Mesofauna Diversity as an Indicator of Pathogenic
and Opportunistic Species . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Ángel A. Acosta-Colón
Social Determinants of Contaminant Exposure and Pregnancy in the Northern
Karst of Puerto Rico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Nancy R. Cardona-Cordero, Carmen M. Vélez-Vega, José F. Cordero,
Zaira Rosario, Colleen Murphy, Hernando Mattei, John Meeker,
Akram Alshawabkeh, and Carlos Vergara
Public Health Approaches to Preventing Outbreaks of Gastrointestinal
Infection Linked to Karst Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Samuel Dorevitch
Integrated Strategy to Guide Health-Related Microbial Quality Management
at Alpine Karstic Drinking Water Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Andreas H. Farnleitner, Domenico Savio, Regina Sommer,
Georg Reischer, Alexander Kirschner, Wolfgang Zerobin, and Hermann Stadler
Bassett’s Cave, Bermuda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Maureen Handler and John Hoffelt
Moving Beyond Case Studies: Research Examples from Mountaintop
Removal Coal Mining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Michael Hendryx
Using Enteric Pathogens to Assess Sources of Fecal Contamination
in the Silurian Dolomite Aquifer: Preliminary Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Maureen A. Muldoon, Mark A. Borchardt, Susan K. Spencer,
Randall J. Hunt, and David Owens
Contents xiii

Human Perceptions of Anthropogenic Impact on the Aquifer

Recharge Zone in Santa Isabel, Puerto Rico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Betzaida Ortiz-Carrión, Jorge R. Ortiz-Zayas, and Josefina Arce-Quiñones
Factors Influencing the Occurrence and the Fate of E. coli
Population in Karst Hydrosystems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Fabienne Petit, Thierry Berthe, Gautier Chaix, Erick Denamur, Olivier Clermont,
Nicolas Massei, and Jean-Paul Dupont
Spatiotemporal Assessment of CVOC Contamination in Karst Groundwater
Sources and Exposure at Tap Water Point of Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Vilda L. Rivera, Ingrid Y. Padilla, and Norma I. Torres
Potential Exposure of Emerging Contaminants in Tap water from Karst
Groundwater Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Norma I. Torres, Ingrid Y. Padilla, and Vilda L. Rivera

Part V Risk Assessment and Regulatory Issues

On the Implementation of Environmental Indices in Karst . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Marianna Mazzei and Mario Parise
Fitting Regulatory Square Pegs into Round Holes: Local Land Use
Regulation in Karst Terrain. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Jesse J. Richardson Jr.
Recommended Strategies for the Response to Hazardous Materials
Releases in Karst. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Geary M. Schindel
Investigating Groundwater Vulnerability of a Karst Aquifer
in Tampa Bay, Florida . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Philip E. van Beynen, Michael Niedzielski,
Elzbieta Bialkowska-Jelinska, and Kamal Alsharif

Part VI Aquifer Studies

Lithofacies and Transport for Clastic Sediments in Karst Conduits . . . . . . . . . . 277
Rachel F. Bosch and William B. White
Delineation of a Major Karst Basin with Multiple Input Points,
Roaring River, Tennessee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
Ryan Gardner, Evan Hart, and Chuck Sutherland
Karst Geology and Regional Hydrogeology in Denmark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Bertel Nilsson and Peter Gravesen
Recharge and Water-Quality Controls for a Karst Aquifer in
Central Texas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
Brian A. Smith and Brian B. Hunt
Monitoring of Cueva Larga, Puerto Rico—A First Step to Decode
Speleothem Climate Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
Rolf Vieten, Sophie Warken, Amos Winter, Denis Scholz, Thomas Miller,
Christoph Spötl, and Andrea Schröder-Ritzrau
xiv Contents

Part VII Conference Summary

Abstracts of Additional Conference Papers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
William B. White
The Intersection of Groundwater Contamination and Human Health:
Summary of an Interdisciplinary Conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
Janet S. Herman
 Part I
Introduction to the Conference
 Contaminated Groundwater in Karst: Why Is It
an Issue? An Introduction to the KWI San Juan
Conference

William B. White, Janet S. Herman, Ellen K. Herman,

and Marian Rutigliano

Abstract
The Karst Waters Institute sponsored a conference on karst groundwater contamination and
its impacts on public health. The objective was to facilitate communication between
hydrogeologists and the biomedical community, especially those dealing with public health
issues. This volume contains the papers presented at the conference.

1 The Issue much less treatment than water from surface sources. This
comfortable assumption of safety without treatment does not
If one were to compile a list of the necessities for a healthy apply to karst aquifers where surface water and groundwater
human population, a source of pure water would be in the are intermixed in a complicated way that is highly specific to
top tier of the list along with clean air, nutritious food, individual aquifers. But karst aquifers are not to be ignored.
adequate shelter, and reliable sanitation. Pure, drinkable Although hard data are limited, it has been claimed that 40 or
water is a priceless resource that is in limited supply on more percent of the groundwater drawn for domestic and
Earth, and it is vulnerable to contamination from the very public water supplies in the USA is drawn from karst
beings who depend upon it. aquifers. Consider the number of towns that have grown up
Humans produce a wide variety of substances deleterious around the proverbial “big spring.”
to health when introduced into water supplies. Surface
streams, rivers, and reservoirs are easily contaminated, and
as a result, water supplies drawn from surface sources 2 Karst Aquifers: What’s Special?
require extensive filtration and treatment before introduction
into water distribution systems. Water supplies drawn from Karst aquifers are those for which the host rock has signif-
wells for individual homes and farms often receive no icant solubility in water. Suitable host rocks for karst
treatment, and water supplies from municipal wells require development are mostly carbonates and evaporites. Of these,
only aquifers in carbonate rocks, limestone and dolomite, are
W.B. White (&) likely to have a sufficiently low concentration of dissolved
Geosciences Department, The Pennsylvania State University,
University Park, PA, USA
solids to be useful as water supplies. Dissolution of the host
e-mail: [email protected] rock by infiltrating meteoric water enlarges pore spaces,
J.S. Herman
widens fractures, and develops integrated systems of con-
Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, duits that act as drainage networks. The process may have
Charlottesville, VA, USA begun as early as the mid-Miocene although the active parts
e-mail: [email protected] of the systems frequently date only from the late Pliocene or
E.K. Herman early Pleistocene. The consequence of the dissolutional
Department of Geology, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA, modification of the aquifer host rock is that the hydraulics of
USA
e-mail: [email protected]
groundwater flow in karst aquifers is often remarkably dif-
ferent from the hydraulics of porous media.
M. Rutigliano
Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, USA
Because of the open pathways along fractures and con-
e-mail: [email protected] duits and the generally high flow velocities, karst aquifers can

© Springer International Publishing AG 2018 3

W.B. White et al. (eds.), Karst Groundwater Contamination and Public Health,
Advances in Karst Science, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-51070-5_1
4 W.B. White et al.

transmit contaminants and sediments that are not even a of aquifers ranging from those little different from aquifers in
threat to porous media aquifers. Pathways from contaminant sandstone or river gravel to “aquifers” that are little more
sources to actual or potential water supplies are complex and than roofed-over surface streams. As might be expected, the
poorly predictable. There have been a substantial number of devil is in the detail, and the first task of those evaluating
studies of the movement of specific contaminants in specific contaminated aquifers is to delineate the hydrogeology, the
aquifer locations—case studies—but much less consideration effective boundaries of the aquifer—the groundwater basin
of more generalized concepts of contaminant injection, —and the characteristics of its internal drainage. To this end,
storage, transmission, and release. More importantly, even a large number of tools have been developed over the past
less attention has been given to the actual impact of con- decades (see, e.g., Goldscheider and Drew (2007) or Kresic
taminated karst aquifers on public health. It can be estab- (2013)). Some conference papers illustrated contemporary
lished that a karst aquifer is contaminated, but what is the approaches to the hydrogeology of karst aquifers and are
threat to the people who are using the water? collected under the heading “Aquifer Studies.”

3 The Conference 4.2 Step Two: How Do the Various Types

of Contaminants Move?
It was to provide a comprehensive overview of groundwater
contamination in karst aquifers and its impact on public The usual suspects that would be a threat to surface waters
health that this conference was convened in San Juan, Puerto and to groundwater in non-karstic aquifers comprise the list
Rico. The Puerto Rico karst is an especially appropriate of contaminants that might impact a karst aquifer. The
setting for this meeting in that it provides drinking water for fundamental differences are the mechanisms by which the
private residences and municipal water supplies and, at the contaminants move and are stored in the aquifers, i.e., their
same time, has been significantly impacted by unlined fate and transport. There are water-soluble contaminants, of
landfills and industrial outfalls. The conference consisted which nitrate is the most widespread, but also agricultural
mainly of invited speakers with a poster session available for chemicals and leachates from dumps, landfills, and tailings
contributed papers. Invited speakers were chosen to provide piles. There are non-aqueous phase liquids—gasoline, fuel
the broadest possible coverage and the widest possible range oil, chlorinated solvents, and many others—that have
of points of view. Thus, there are papers on the hydrogeol- movement and storage mechanisms that may be quite dif-
ogy of karst aquifers, mechanisms of contaminant transport, ferent from the movement of water in the aquifer. There are
the epidemiology of contaminated groundwater, and the microorganisms—bacteria, viruses, and protozoa—that
impact of contaminated groundwater on public health. move easily through the karst system. There are particulates,
The storage and movement of water in aquifers, including ranging from colloids to cobbles, some benign and some not,
karst aquifers, is the province of the geological sciences and that are washed through the system by flood pulses. Cleanup
the community of hydrogeologists. The investigation of the of many of these contaminants ranges from difficult to
effects of contaminated water on public health is the realm of impossible.
the biomedical community who have little occasion to Investigation of contaminant fate and transport is an
communicate with the earth science community. The con- extremely active area of research. Many of the papers pre-
ference was designed to encourage cross-disciplinary dis- sented at the conference dealt with identification and char-
cussion by the selection of keynote speakers and by such acterization of contaminated groundwater and with
devices as long coffee breaks, a poster session with a bar and techniques for evaluating the transport of the contaminants
snack table, and a mid-session field trip for all participants. by the groundwater. These appear in the section labeled
The keynote papers are published together in the first section “Karst Groundwater Contaminants and Tools for Their
of the book and illustrate the range of topics discussed. Evaluation.”

4 How to Address the Issue of Contaminated 4.3 Step Three: What Is the Threat to Public
Karst Groundwater Health and What to Do About It?

4.1 Step One: Characterize the Specific Karst To return to the initial question: What is the issue? The
Aquifer of Interest motivation for this conference was to bring health sciences
professionals into a conversation with environmental scien-
The term “karst aquifer” is not a label for a specific thing. tists to focus on karst groundwater, its contamination, and
Rather, karst aquifers represent a large and complex family consequent health outcomes. A particular aspect of this
Contaminated Groundwater in Karst: Why Is It an Issue? … 5

intersection of perspectives requires recognition of exposure know they have an emergency, especially if the acci-
levels and timescales. Although public health professionals dent took place only a few kilometers upstream from
are frequently addressing acute health problems, it is often the intake to a city water supply. A similar wreck above
true that exposure to contaminants of concern in drinking a non-karst aquifer is a more leisurely affair. The
water is a chronic issue. The distinction between exposure to authorities will have to quickly constrain surface run-
a high concentration of contaminant over a short time and off, but infiltrating solvent will form a slowly diffusing
long-term exposures to a ubiquitous background contami- plume that can be evaluated and treated. However, if a
nant at low concentrations but over a very long time is tanker truck spills its load into a sinkhole, the travel to
crucial to making the connection between contaminated the spring will not take much more time that the flow
water and human health. Unfortunately, the cumulative down the river. Spills in karst regions are as much of an
effects of long exposures are much more difficult to identify emergency as spills into rivers.
and evaluate. The conference was fortunate to have the (3) Ready communication between the surface, the local-
participation of the Puerto Rico Testsite for Exploring ization of all human activities, and the groundwater in a
Contamination Threats (PROTECT), a large and long-term karst aquifer. Wastes from the production of food,
investigation of the effects of low levels of contamination on mining, energy, and manufacturing, as well as septic,
preterm birth in the north karst belt of Puerto Rico. There sewage, and urban storm water, are all easily directed to
were multiple papers from the PROTECT group in the recharging the groundwater via karst features of sinking
conference. These contributions along with other papers streams, sinkholes, and thin soils. Taken all together,
addressing the driving question about health outcomes are the inescapable realization is perhaps the most impor-
found in “Contaminant Exposure and Public Health.” tant outcome of the conference: Both the public and the
The synthesis of all the scientific contributions to the responsible authorities must treat water supplies from
conference is an attempt to answer the question, “What do karst aquifers with the same level of suspicious eval-
we do about it?” Why should groundwater contamination in uation and environmental protection that would be
karst aquifers be treated any differently than contamination given to a surface water supply. There is a certain
of groundwater in any other aquifer, or for that matter, from nostalgia about “pure mountain spring water,” harking
contamination of surface streams and reservoirs? The con- to a time when grandmother carried water from the
taminants will be from the same sources, have the same spring in an oaken bucket. Karst springs are usually
properties, and have the same effects on public health beautiful, but beautiful does not mean that they should
regardless of the source from which the contaminated water be piped directly into the community’s water mains.
is drawn. There are three primary reasons why karst aquifers The most important threat from contaminated karst
should be treated differently, both from a management and aquifers may be the lack of understanding on the part of
from a regulatory point of view. planners and regional authorities and also on the lack of
a regulatory framework that takes the peculiarities of
(1) The much larger apertures in karst aquifers, ranging karst aquifers into account. This critically important
from a few millimeters in solutionally widened joints to topic is addressed in the collection of papers on “Risk
tens of meters in master conduits, permit the passage of Assessment and Regulatory Issues.”
much larger solid contaminants than would be possible
in porous media. Bacteria and other microorganisms,
for example, can easily pass through a karst aquifer to
the point of drinking water extraction, whereas they References
would have been filtered out during flow through the
porous medium of a sand aquifer. Goldscheider, N., and D. Drew. 2007. Methods in Karst Hydrogeology.
(2) Very short travel times. If a tanker truck full of chlo- London: Taylor and Francis.
rinated solvents goes off the highway, rolls down an Kresic, N. 2013. Water in Karst. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
embankment, and breaks open in a river, the authorities
 Public Health and Karst Groundwater
Contamination: From Multidisciplinary
Research to Exposure Prevention

Heather F. Henry and William A. Suk

Abstract
Karst aquifers account for up to 20% of the world land area and are a source of drinking
water for much of the world. Despite the critical value of these aquifers as a drinking water
source, there are a growing number of incidences of karst aquifer contamination worldwide,
including inadvertent spills, dumping, industrial discharges, or sewage seepage events.
Given the porous nature of carbonate rocks, the hydrogeology of karstic aquifers is
extremely complex, making it difficult to predict movement of contamination in these
aquifers and to identify exposure risks. These contamination events—together with
emerging issues such as climate change, exposures to infectious agents, as well as the
increase in informal mining practices—indicate the need to explore linkages between karst
groundwater, contamination, and health. Accordingly, the issue of karst groundwater
contamination presents a unique global public health challenge requiring a multidisci-
plinary problem-solving approach. The National Institute of Environmental Health
Sciences (NIEHS) Superfund Research Program’s (SRP) multidisciplinary approach serves
as a model for integrating expertise across health, engineering, geological, and
community-based approaches to solve problems. Using examples relevant to karst
contamination, NIEHS SRP grantees are engaged in research endeavors to address issues of
drinking water safety—from remediation to well-testing best practices. It is recommended
that continued research addresses karst contamination, with particular attention given to
identifying people at risk of exposures and to developing proactive means to prevent further
exposures. This is particularly important in the USA, where two-fifths of the population’s
drinking water comes from karst aquifers. Furthermore, over 40 million US citizens are on
private well water for drinking, yet testing for contamination in these wells is often not
required. Given the challenges predicting contaminant transport in karst and the lack of
uniform private well water testing regulations, there is a need to promote awareness of risks
for people living in karst areas among public health, hydrogeology, and government
officials, and to use community-based approaches as models for intervention and exposure
prevention.

1 Introduction: Karst Contamination—A

Global Concern
H.F. Henry (&)
W.A. Suk
Hazardous Substances Research Branch, National Public health implications for contamination in karst aquifers
Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, are of global concern. It is estimated between 12.5 and 20% of
PO Box 12233 K-304, Research Triangle Park, the Earth’s land surface that is composed of carbonaceous
NC 27709, USA
e-mail: [email protected] rocks (Fig. 1) (Williams and Fong 2014; USGS 2016b).

© Springer International Publishing AG 2018 7

W.B. White et al. (eds.), Karst Groundwater Contamination and Public Health,
Advances in Karst Science, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-51070-5_2
8 H.F. Henry and W.A. Suk

Fig. 1 Karst aquifers worldwide based on Ford and Williams (1989). From Williams and Fong (2014)

These rock formations—limestone and dolomite—form of disease and dysfunction—above what would be expected
karst, meaning the rock material is slowly dissolved through from exposure to the contaminant alone (Boldenow et al.
time leaving behind caves, springs, sinkholes, etc. Unlike 2015; Jaligama et al. 2015; Notch et al. 2015). In the way
non-carbonaceous rock formations, karst hydrogeology is that large above ground metal processing shows impacts to
governed by small cracks and fractures as well as larger karst aquifers (Du Preez et al. 2016; Deng et al. 2009, 2011),
conduits. These complicated networks of channels create it should be noted that informal mining practices may release
difficulty in predicting transport of water through karst, as mixed contaminants that could impact drinking water
well as anything transported along with water, such as resources. Activities on the rise, such as electronic waste
contaminants or pathogens (USGS 2016b). Given the porous (e-waste) mining (Heacock et al. 2016; Grant et al. 2013) as
nature of carbonate rocks, the hydrogeology of karstic well as informal precious metal mining (Maier et al. 2014),
aquifers is extremely complex, making it difficult to predict have potential to contaminate water resources, and those in
movement of contamination in these aquifers and to identify karst aquifers are particularly vulnerable. Lastly, several
exposure risks. karst researchers are investigating the impacts of severe
Numerous studies report contamination impacts in karst weather events related to climate change (Polemio 2016;
aquifers throughout the world (Du Preez et al. 2016; Thomas et al. 2016; Dura et al. 2010). These surge events
Xu et al. 2016; Li et al. 2016; Morasch 2013; Krejcova et al. impact the movement of contaminants in karst—leading to
2013; Huang et al. 2013; Metcalfe et al. 2011). Some studies unanticipated sewage contamination and toxicant transport.
indicate linkages to increased risk of disease and dysfunction
as a result of contamination of aquifers by hazardous sub-
stances (Rodriguez et al. 2015; Huang et al. 2013; Long 2 Understanding Karst Contamination
et al. 2012; Hu et al. 2011). There are several emerging Issues Requires Multidisciplinary Research
global issues that would also overlay with the concerns of Framework
contamination in karstic aquifers. Transport of infectious
agents through karst aquifers is well documented throughout The issue of karst groundwater contamination presents a
the world (Somaratne and Hallas 2015; Sinreich et al. 2014; unique global public health challenge requiring a multidis-
Arcega-Cabrera et al. 2014; Bauer et al. 2013; Wampler and ciplinary problem-solving approach. The National Institute
Sisson 2011; Khaldi et al. 2011; Dussart-Baptista et al. of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Superfund
2007). There is growing evidence that co-exposures between Research Program’s (SRP) multidisciplinary approach
contamination and infectious agents confer heightened risk serves as a model for integrating expertise across health,