Beyond Words

• Date: 01 November 2014

11-2014 NEWS & ANALYSIS 44 ELR 10921

BEYOND WORDS

Each month, ELR publishes a graphic that depicts an environmental law or policy theme or topic. Please send suggested

submissions to schang@eli.org.

Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa/home_maps/NO3.html.

A National Assessment of Changes in Chloride, Dissolved Solids, and Nitrate in Groundwater

Changes in concentrations on Chloride, Dissolved Solids, and Nitrate were analyzed for networks of

wells that were sampled once between 1988 and 2000, and sampled again between 2000 and 2010. ough

more than half of the well networks tested saw no signicant change, chloride concentrations increased in

43 percent of the well networks from the rst decade to the second decade of study. Dissolved solids con-

centrations increased in 41 percent and nitrate concentrations in 23 percent of well networks.

e full study and ndings ca n be accessed at: http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa/studies/gwtrends/.

Copyright © 2014 Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, DC. Reprinted with permission from ELR®, http://www.eli.org, 1-800-433-5120.