Climate Change and Groundwater Contamination: A Comprehensive Review of Impacts, Challenges and Adaptation Strategies

Abstract

Groundwater is a hidden water reservoir, but it supports drinking water, agriculture, and public health. Climate change is now changing the pathways of groundwater restoration and groundwater contamination. The survey explains how temperature rise, changes in rainfall, droughts, sea level rise, and floods affect groundwater quality. The main impacts include salt intake, nitrate entry, arsenic emission, microbial transport, and chemical packaging. This paper uses peer-reviewed studies and general data on intergovernmental issues related to climate change, UNESCO, the World Health Organization, the U.S. Geological Survey, NASA Grace, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the World Bank. Evidence suggests that the weather rarely works alone. It operates in the fields of pumping, land use, sanitation, and groundwater geology. Public figures show clear pressures in several sectors. GRACE data showed a groundwater loss of about 109 km³ in northwest India during 2002 to 2008. The Tigris-Euphrates-western Iran region lost about 143.6 km³ total water between 2003 and 2009. A study of U.S. nitrates used 293,775 notes from 2001 to 2020. It found that rainfall and temperature influence the annual change in nitrates in 75.2% of the counties. In Bangladesh, multiple hazard maps showed that 5% to 24% of groundwater faces an overall higher risk of groundwater. This risk includes depletion of arsenic, salinity and storage. Adaptation should link climate policy with groundwater conservation. The major initiatives include monitoring, source control, well protection, safe cleaning, carefully managed aquifer recharge, shore pumping limits, and open data systems. This paper supports risk-based geogovernance for hot and less stable climates.