ABSTRACT
We cannot think of a modern society without manufactured organic chemicals. Their production and application is now regulated and spilling in the environment happens, at least in principle, only by accident. However, a few decades ago dumping of industrial organic chemicals at a waste site was common practice, storage tanks with gasoline and petrol were usually leaking into the underlying soil, and agricultural chemicals were spread over the land without considering that groundwater might be polluted by their application and rendered undrinkable. Figure 10.1 shows the number of wells in Denmark that were closed because the concentrations of nitrates, pesticides or other chemicals exceeded drinking water limits. The large increase since 1993 of wells abandoned due to pesticides is highly disturbing.
