to avoid detrimental concentrations of pollutants in the groundwater," says PD Dr. Markus Wehrer from the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Germany). "However, it is common practice that along the runways huge amounts of de-icing fluids infiltrate into the ground," the Hydrogeologist adds. It does indeed make sense to use the natural self cleaning capacities of the soil. However, the de-icing chemicals have a negative impact on groundwater quality and the functions of the soil. This was shown in a new study of a team of researchers around Prof. Dr. Kai Uwe Totsche at the Jena Chair of Hydrogeology.