The Wellhead Protection Program
In Pennsylvania


TABLE 1. COMMON SOURCES OF GROUND-WATER CONTAMINATION

Category

Contaminant Source

Agricultural

Animal burial areas

Irrigation sites

 

Animal feedlots

Manure spreading areas/pits

 

Fertilizer storage/use

Pesticide storage/use

     

Commercial

Airports

Jewelry/metal plating

 

Auto repair shops

Laundromats

 

Boatyards

Medical institutions

 

Construction areas

Paint shops

 

Car washes

Photography establishments

 

Cemeteries

Railroad tracks and yards

 

Dry cleaners

Research laboratories

 

Gas stations

Scrap and junkyards

 

Golf courses

Storage tanks

     

Industrial

Asphalt plants

Petroleum production/

 

Chemical manufacture/

storage

 

storage

Pipelines

 

Electronics manufacture

Septage lagoons and sludge

 

Electroplaters

Storage tanks

 

Foundries/metal fabricators

Toxic and hazardous spills

 

Machine/metal working shops

Wells (operating/abandoned)

 

Mining and mine drainage

Wood preserving facilities

     

Residential

Fuel oil

Septic systems, cesspools

 

Furniture stripping/

Sewer lines

 

refinishing

Swimming pools (chemicals)

 

Household hazardous

 
 

products

 
 

Household lawn chemicals

 
     

Other

Hazardous waste landfills

Recycling/reduction facilities

 

Highway spills

Road deicing operations

 

Municipal incinerators

Road maintenance depots

 

Municipal landfills

Storm water drains/basins

 

Municipal sewer lines

Transfer stations

 

Open burning sites

Well/borehole drilling

NOTE: This list is not exhaustive. Common sources of ground-water contamination include, but are not limited to, the above sources. (Adapted from US EPA, 1991, Protecting Local Ground-Water Supplies Through Wellhead Protection: EPA 570/9-91-007, 18 p.)
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