Friday, July 27, 2012

Why Protect Groundwater?

This is a question that many people ask when I tell them what I do for a living.  Why protect groundwater?  It always amazes me that people don’t know or understand groundwater’s importance to both their lives and to their livelihood.  Of course as long as there are those who don’t know that may be job security for me.    

Right now as much of the country thirsts for water as is indicated on the National Drought Monitor, groundwater becomes even more vital.  I read in the local paper a couple of weeks ago a good representation as to why we need to protect groundwater.  I hope you agree.

So what are you doing to protect and conserve groundwater?  How can we make sure everyone knows not only why they need to protect groundwater, but also what they can do?

2 comments:

All about water said...

Groundwater makes up about twenty percent of the world's fresh water supply, which is about 0.61% of the entire world's water, including oceans and permanent ice. Global groundwater storage is roughly equal to the total amount of freshwater stored in the snow and ice pack, including the north and south poles.

The Groundwater Foundation said...

As you can imagine it is hard to estimate how much water exists and where it is located. This USGS source gives us some good numbers.

You can see the data table on this page:
http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/earthhowmuch.html

These numbers would indicate that groundwater makes up about 30 percent of the world's fresh water supply, which is about 0.76% of the entire world's water, including oceans and permanent ice. Global groundwater (fresh+saline) storage is roughly equal to the total amount of freshwater stored in the snow and ice pack, including the north and south poles.