Regional situation Groundwater plays an important role in drinking water supply and often constitutes the only source available in urban and rural areas of Latin America and the Caribbean. However, in the majority of cases little attention has been paid to preventing the pollution of groundwater sources and even less to the protection of aquifers as a whole. In some areas, principally within the large urban centers or in the surrounding areas, groundwater pollution has already occurred resulting in potential public health risks and the abandonment of water sources with the consequent loss of financial investments and natural resources.

Groundwater pollution is a gradual phenomenon that appears slowly but is persistent and recovery is technically difficult, excessively expensive and frequently, not practical.

The most common groundwater pollution of the Region is associated with sanitation of areas that do not have sewers, inadequate final disposal of industrial effluents and inappropriate agricultural practices. The increase of nitrate concentrations in groundwater and the frequent episodes of contamination with volatile halogenated hydrocarbons, pose a serious danger for drinking water quality in compliance with the current guidelines established by WHO for drinking water.

Objectives

To contribute to the improvement of water quality of groundwater and the aquifers of the Region, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), through its Division of Health and Environment (HEP) and the Pan American Center for Sanitary Engineering and Environmental Sciences (CEPIS, Spanish acronym), initiated, in 1984, an action plan for the prevention and control of groundwater pollution, the objectives of which are:

1. To identify the principal problems of groundwater pollution of the Region.
   
2. To identify the institutions with appropriate infrastructure and sufficient human resources to absorb and apply the technology to control groundwater pollution.
   
3. To mobilize the Member Country institutions through an informal cooperating network that will receive orientation of CEPIS and the British Geological Survey (BGS).
   
4. To prepare a series of technical documents on the control of groundwater pollution applicable to the context of Latin America and the Caribbean.
   
5. To disseminate this technology through Regional workshops and seminars.