Progress of investigation and evaluation on groundwater organic contaminants in western countries

About 20 kinds of contaminants were detected including 11 volatile compounds (VOCs), 8 organochlorinated pesticides and 1 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) when the first underground water evaluation project was funded by China Geological Survey in 1999. 38 organic contaminants in groundwater were monitored as water quality parameters in 2005-2010. The data and numerous studies have shown that pollutants in groundwater are far more than 38. It's necessary to conduct pollutant sorts in different areas or different types of groundwater in order to know groundwater quality well and provide insights into emerging contaminants. The paper proposes a list of top 50 organic pollutants commonly found in groundwater by searching groundwater quality reports and relative articles coming from United States Environmental Protection Agency(U.S. EPA), United States Geological Survey(USGS),and European Union(EU)database.