Groundwater - More valuable than gold

Abstract

The Water Wheel September-October 2005 G roundwater comes from rain, snow, sleet and hail that soak into the ground. The water moves down into the ground because of gravity, passing between particles of soil, sand, gravel, or rock, until it reaches a depth where the ground is filled, or saturated, with water. The area that is filled with water is called the saturated zone and the top of this zone is called the water table. The water table may be very near the ground’s surface or it may be hundreds of metres below. Although groundwater exists everywhere under the ground, some parts of the saturated zone contain more water than others. An aquifer is an underground formation of permeable rock or loose material which can produce useful quantities of water when tapped by a well. These aquifers may be small, only a few hectares in area, or very large, underlying thousands of square kilometres of the earth’s surface. Even if groundwater isn’t used by people it may still play an important role in the local environment and sustain rural livelihoods in that way.

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