Groundwater is an important water source for activities such as drinking, bathing, cooking, and crop irrigation.

Keeping our groundwater sources clean is becoming more challenging with an ever growing population. In watersheds underlain with karst, such as many of those in Kentucky, the groundwater is more susceptible to contamination. This is because surface waters, such as runoff and in some cases streamflow, travel into the subsurface of karst by way of fractures, sinkholes, swallow holes, conduits and caves (Figure 1). Such direct paths into the groundwater mean that pollutants reach the aquifer much more quickly with little to no filtration (Figure 2). Thus, while waters from springs and wells may look clean, they may actually contain unsafe levels of pollutants such as bacteria and nitrogen.

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