When talking about contamination movement it is also very important to talk about the area affected by the spreading of groundwater contamination. A contaminant may be released into the groundwater for only a short time and in a very small area, but as it disperses the contaminant can affect a very large area and number of people.

The animation below shows that even though the one-time source was small in area, the total area that has a dangerous concentration of arsenic is much larger. The area that has a dangerous concentration is from the center of the plume to the darker line.

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