USDA Announces $58 Million To Improve Water Quantity and Quality in Agricultural Production

U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service Chief Dave White today announced nearly $58 million for water conservation and water quality improvements on agricultural working lands. The funding was made available for 63 projects in 21 states through the Agricultural Water Enhancement Program.



"We must take steps to protect and preserve our water resources, and the Obama Administration is committed to using this program to provide financial and technical assistance to farmers and ranchers to improve water conditions on their land," said White.

The Agricultural Water Enhancement Program (AWEP) promotes ground and surface water conservation and improves water quality by helping farmers and ranchers implement agricultural water enhancement activities. With the services and resources of other conservation partners, AWEP allows the Federal Government to leverage investment in natural resources conservation.

Landowners can obtain funding through AWEP for several types of projects, including:

• Water quality or water conservation plan development, including resource condition assessment and modeling;
• Water conservation restoration or enhancement projects, including conversion to the production of less water-intensive agricultural commodities or dry land farming;
• Water quality or quantity restoration or enhancement projects;
• Irrigation system improvement or irrigation efficiency enhancement;
• Activities designed to mitigate the effects of drought and climate change; and
• Other related activities deemed by the Secretary to help achieve water quality or water conservation benefits on agricultural land.

AWEP was established by the 2008 Farm Bill and funding comes from the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) administers the program for USDA. NRCS implements AWEP by entering into EQIP contracts directly with agricultural producers.

All AWEP recipients must meet EQIP requirements. Though participating AWEP producers do not need to have existing EQIP contracts, they must be eligible for EQIP. All partner proposals were selected competitively. Proposals for priority areas may have received higher rankings, and include property undergoing conversion of agricultural land from irrigated to dry land farming; projects that help producers meet regulatory requirements; and projects located where there is a high percentage of agricultural land and producers in a region or area.

Approved AWEP Projects and Funding by State:
Arkansas - 1 project - $1,383,417

California - 15 projects* - $18,079,101

Colorado - 1 project - $333,000

Florida - 1 project - $1,000,000

Georgia - 2 projects - $2,000,000.00

Iowa - 1 project - $158,950

Idaho - 4 projects - $6,920,000

Illinois - 1 project - $49,440

Indiana - 2 projects* - $554,000

Michigan - 1 project* - $1,500,000

Mississippi - 2 projects - $2,400,000

North Carolina - 1 project - $100,000

North Dakota - 5 projects - $2,253,352

Nebraska - 5 projects - $2,590,000

New Jersey - 1 project - $400,000

New Mexico - 4 projects - $3,328,537

New York - 1 project $500,000

Oklahoma - 1 project - $275,000

Oregon - 8 projects* - $3,605,879

Texas - 5 projects - $10,425,000

Washington - 1 project - $53,600

Total - 63 projects - $57,909,276

Carbon Sequestration: Implications for Wyoming

While capture and underground storage, or sequestration, of carbon dioxide may be a viable climate change mitigation option in some states including Wyoming, its potential risks require further study.

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) research hydrologist Dr. Yousif Kharaka will present a talk in Cheyenne, Wyo. about the feasibility and implications of capturing and storing the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide underground in depleted oil fields and deep rock formations with salty aquifers.

“In order to slow global warming and related climate change, the capture and storage of carbon dioxide may be an important component,” said Kharaka. “We have been evaluating a variety of projects using different techniques in different geologic formations for long-term storage of carbon dioxide.”

However, the potential for the carbon dioxide and the salty water into which it is injected to move into drinkable groundwater is a risk that needs to be carefully assessed for any site where injection is being considered.

“A key question to storing carbon dioxide—how much of the gas will leak out of the rock in which it is injected—remains unanswered, and is just one of the many unknown components of the process,” Kharaka said.

Wyoming has areas where the geology and groundwater have potential for storing the carbon dioxide, and several sites in the State are currently being investigated as carbon dioxide storage locations.

Kharaka’s talk, which is open to the public, will take place at 10:30 a.m. on August 6, 2009 at the Laramie County Library in the Cottonwood Room, Cheyenne, Wyo.

We Spread John's Ashes in the Indian Ocean

On this Memorial Day weekend we sailed out into the Indian Ocean in a dhow, an Arab sailboat of ancient design, and placed John’s ashes in the most crystal clear blue-green water we have ever seen.

For almost two hours we sailed, smiled, cried, and remembered John.

There were a number of coincidences that made us believe that John was with us.

First, it had been rainy and overcast for the previous three days, but when we woke up on Sunday morning the sky was blue and welcoming. It was almost as if John was telling us he was ready and inviting us to move forward.

Second, Faisal made it to Zanzibar the night before the ceremony despite numerous obstacles while flying from Sudan to Kenya and then Zanzibar, with a vehicle breakdown and an unscheduled landing in Kilimanjaro in-between. After all of that, who could doubt he was meant to be there?

Finally, the predator crows which had invaded the resort for the previous three days disappeared on Sunday in an interesting twist.

On that morning we took the box with John’s ashes and headed to the sea.

While on the dhow, we asked our guide if we could go out past the reef, but there was a language barrier and we weren’t getting an answer. After a lot of confusion someone asked, “Where are we going?” And the funniest moment of the whole day came when the response to our question was “Sailing!”

We all broke out laughing and then glided into remembering our favorite funny stories about John. It was amazing how we remembered so many things that were said about him at the funeral ... the story about him clapping his hands while riding his bicycle out of respect for the chief he was passing on the road and then promptly flying over the handlebars; the story about him commenting to one of his high school friends when sitting in the back of his pickup truck how great it was to be in a pickup and not have chickens pooping on his head or babies crying on his lap; and other stories of how he always made us laugh and smile.

It was then time to raise our glasses and toast our friend John and his mother Jane for sharing him with us and begin the process of scattering his ashes.

One by one we poured his ashes into the beautiful, crystal clear water and just as we finished we turned to see a flock of seagulls rise up off a dhow into the sky. It was an incredible moment because for the past few days we had commented on the fact that there were only crows, and no seagulls, on the beach.

But there they were, spreading their white wings and lifting off into the sky. The timing and symbolism seemed to speak for itself.

Peaceful, beautiful, tranquil, heaven bound.

Duwamish-Area firm fined for Industrial Stormwater Permit Violations

BELLEVUE – The Washington Department of Ecology has fined Fog Tite Inc. $18,000 for illegally discharging industrial wastewater into a storm drain and for failing to properly monitor discharges of industrial storm water into city storm drains.

Seattle storm drains serving the manufacturer of concrete meter boxes and catch basins – located at 4819 West Marginal Way S.W. – flow to the Duwamish Waterway.

Fog Tite connected drain lines to a city storm drain outside the facility without permits or approvals several years ago. The company discharges caustic water and sediment from its production process areas and its outdoor work yard into the drain line.



“Ignoring the city is permit process inevitably resulted in Fog Tite connecting its drain line to the storm drain instead of the sewer,” said Kevin Fitzpatrick, Ecology’s regional water-quality supervisor. “They’ve been discharging poorly-treated industrial storm water and process wastewater directly to the Duwamish for years. An industrial facility in this day and age has a duty to know where its industrial discharges are going.”

Businesses can arrange to discharge industrial wastewater into the sanitary sewer but must have authorization from King County to do so, and may need to provide pre-treatment. Fog Tite has begun applying to the city and county for a legal sewer connection for its process wastewater and contaminated storm water.

Fog Tite also failed to submit quarterly monitoring reports to Ecology on storm water discharges, as required by the state industrial storm water general permit.

“The self-reporting permit system reduces costs for companies and for the state,” Fitzpatrick explained, “and permitted facilities must do the required monitoring and reporting. Truthful and accurate self-reporting is fundamental in keeping our waterways clean and safe.”

Inspectors from Ecology and the city of Seattle uncovered the drain line violation earlier this year.

Ecology had first visited Fog Tite in March 2009 as part of a Duwamish Urban Waters Initiative program to visit businesses that are likely pollution sources to storm drains or sanitary sewers, lack environmental permits, or are potential generators of hazardous waste. A technical specialist helps each company identify whether it needs permits or can make voluntary improvements to its environmental practices.

Ecology and the city of Seattle made a follow-up inspection in May. A city dye test showed that all of Fog Tite’s production area and outdoor drains went to the city storm-drain system, and not the sanitary sewer as the company had claimed.

Fog Tite may seek an Ecology review of the penalty or file an appeal with the Washington State Pollution Control Hearings Board within 30 days.

The Urban Waters Initiative is a cooperative program aimed at controlling sources of pollution to the Duwamish Waterway. The 2007 Legislature established the Initiative, which also operates along Tacoma’s Commencement Bay and the Spokane River in Spokane.

The Initiative supports Ecology’s work as a co-manager with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency of the Lower Duwamish Waterway cleanup site, a 5.5-mile stretch of the Duwamish upstream from Harbor Island. The Initiative also aids in Ecology’s priorities of reducing toxic threats and supporting the Puget Sound Initiative, a comprehensive effort by local, tribal, state and federal governments, business, agricultural and environmental interests, scientists, and the public to restore and protect the Sound.

JPL, Caltech, City of Los Angeles to Team on Energy/Water Initiatives

PASADENA, Calif. - Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced a first-of-its-kind partnership between the City of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP) and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., and its managing institution, the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, to establish Los Angeles as a powerhouse for demonstrated energy and water innovation. This partnership will leverage JPL's intellectual assets directly to the DWP to reduce water usage and greenhouse gas emissions and, in the process, stimulate green job growth.

Mayor Villaraigosa, JPL Director Charles Elachi and Los Angeles DWP General Manager David Nahai made the announcement today at a JPL ceremony to sign the memorandum of understanding.

"The City of Los Angeles, JPL and DWP are standing at the forefront of the clean technology revolution that will drive the 21st century economy," Mayor Villaraigosa said. "This partnership will harness Los Angeles' unparalleled creative capital and entrepreneurial spirit to develop clean and green technologies that will spur job growth across the board from research, development, construction and finance."

The goal of this partnership is to provide a pipeline for innovative energy and water solutions directly to the DWP. The program serves as an international model for water and energy solutions.

The collaboration teams Caltech, one of the world's leading academic institutions of science and technology, and JPL, its operating division and a world leader in robotic space exploration, to fulfill the City of Los Angeles' commitment to future water and energy demand in a reliable, sustainable and economical way.

JPL and Caltech will apply their extensive expertise in climate change science, remote sensing, environmental engineering and systems design to assist the city and the DWP in developing, maturing and deploying innovative technologies to improve energy efficiency, increase the use of renewable energy sources, conserve water and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As the largest municipal utility in the United States, the DWP provides safe, reliable drinking water and electricity to more than 3.8 million residents and businesses, helping to sustain life, the environment and the city's economic prosperity.

"We are proud that JPL technology and expertise will be part of this collaboration to help improve energy efficiency and protect our water supply -- one of our most precious natural resources," said JPL Director Charles Elachi.

Under the terms of the three-year agreement, the participants declare their mutual intent to collaborate on developing water and energy efficiency solutions and renewable energy technologies. The participants will work with other local universities such as the University of Southern California and The University of California Los Angeles, to make energy and water technology assessments, develop models and test beds, perform technology demonstrations, and provide data on global change from Earth science satellites, airborne platforms and ground-based instruments to assist the city in making informed decisions.

"The agreement we are signing today represents a groundbreaking partnership for developing innovative energy and water solutions to the environmental challenges facing our city and our planet," said Los Angeles DWP General Manager David Nahai. "Through it we aim to develop real-world solutions based on unparalleled scientific expertise."

The region's arid climate and large population mean that any shortage in water supply can have acute effects, which can be further exacerbated by climate change. One project already being investigated under the collaboration could have immediate applications to Southern California's current critical water shortage. Much of the DWP's water supply comes from the Eastern Sierra Nevada, from Mono Lake and the Owens Valley via the California Aqueduct. The department's vast land holdings include Owens Lake, an ancient dry lakebed whose blowing dust can impact air quality for Owens Valley residents. To help reduce dust on Owens Lake, the department and its team of contractors is installing one of the world's largest shallow flooding systems, which is a computer-controlled network of sprinklers that currently covers more than 14 square miles of the ancient lakebed. But this flooding system consumes significant water-water that is consequently unavailable to help satisfy the city's residential and industrial needs.

Under the collaboration, JPL and Caltech are investigating the development of a remote sensing instrument that would measure the lakebed's surface moisture in order to precisely predict when water needs to be applied. Such an instrument would permit more efficient use of the Owens Lake sprinkler system, thereby conserving precious water resources.

This is only one example of the fruits of this collaboration; the participants have already submitted a series of joint proposals to the Department of Energy to develop and deploy advanced energy technologies. These proposals involve projects to reduce agricultural energy and water consumption; develop models for predicting the availability of solar, wind and wave energy resources; develop robust communications architectures for smart grid applications; and develop efficient technologies for pre-processing food waste used to produce biogases and renewable energy.

The agreement also calls for the DWP to construct a "Sustainable Technology Demonstration Building." This new building will showcase to the public innovative methods, products and technologies to reduce energy and water consumption and increase renewable energy.

EPA awards $4.2 million in Recovery Act funds to clean up underground petroleum leaks in Minnesota

In an effort to protect people where they live, work, and play, EPA announced the distribution of $4.2 million to Minnesota under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to assess and clean up underground storage tank petroleum leaks. The greatest potential hazard from a leaking underground storage tank is that the petroleum or other hazardous substances seep into the soil and contaminate groundwater, the source of drinking water for nearly one-third of Americans.

"We're providing immediate growth opportunities for communities across the nation, as well as long-term protection from dangerous pollution in the land and water," said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. "EPA is putting people to work by serving our core mission of protecting human health and the environment."

This money is part of $197 million appropriated under the Recovery Act to address shovel-ready sites nationwide contaminated by petroleum from leaking underground storage tanks. The funds will be used for overseeing assessment and cleanup of leaks from underground storage tanks or directly paying for assessment and cleanup of leaks from federally regulated tanks where the responsible party is unknown, unwilling or unable to finance, or the cleanup is an emergency response.

EPA regional underground storage tank programs will enter into a cooperative agreement with Minnesota Pollution Control Agency in July 2009. The cooperative agreement will include more detailed descriptions of state spending plans.

"The Recovery Act support for underground storage tank cleanup is a great investment in environmental protection and will provide long-term economic benefits for Minnesota," said Bharat Mathur acting regional administrator in Chicago.

President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 on February 17, 2009, and has directed that the Recovery Act be implemented with unprecedented transparency and accountability. To that end, the American people can visit Recovery.gov to see how every dollar is being invested.

Emergency Rule Closes New Groundwater Withdrawals in Upper Kittitas County

The emergency rule that closes upper Kittitas County to all new groundwater withdrawals, the agency announced Thursday, July 16.

After nearly two years of negotiations, Ecology was unable to gain a commitment from the Kittitas County Board of Commissioners that they were willing to move forward with a memorandum of agreement and alternative rule approach that would have limited the uncontrolled proliferation of so-called “exempt groundwater wells” in upper Kittitas County.

Since 1998, nearly 3,000 wells have been drilled in Kittitas County, prompting concerns that groundwater pumping in the headwaters region of the county threatens senior water users and streamflows in the Yakima Basin. A number of parties, including the citizens group Aqua Permanente, the Yakama Nation, and the city of Roslyn, have asked that Ecology close the groundwater to further appropriation while a groundwater study is completed.

Earlier this week, an emergency rule expired that provided a mechanism for Ecology and the County to co-manage groundwater related to housing developments. The temporary rule reflected commitments the parties made last year in a formal Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), and had been revised and updated three times while the parties worked towards agreement on a permanent groundwater management rule.

“We recognize economic vitality is directly tied to water in the Yakima Basin – and we have been looking for an approach that would have allowed some limited new uses while also protecting the rights of senior water right holders,” explained Ecology director Jay Manning. “We had hoped to move forward as partners with the county to protect this vital resource until more is known about groundwater supplies in the upper county.

“We thought we had reached an agreement that would allow for some development in the upper county and at the same time protect the rights of current and future water users and streamflows in the Yakima River and its tributaries.”

A groundwater study designed to gain a better understanding of the connection between groundwater and surface waters was funded by the Legislature and will commence soon.

“Rather than close the groundwater during the study period, Ecology had proposed to partner with the County to
1. Llimit exempt wells to certain locations and reduced water volumes;
2. Require metering of water use, including withdrawals from exempt wells;
3. Require notice to prospective property buyers of potential water shortages,” Manning explained.

“The county has struggled to come to a decision and has missed three previous decision deadlines related to finalizing an agreement with Ecology. Faced with a management gap, we are adopting this temporary rule.”

The emergency rule will be in place for 120 days.

Some new water uses will be allowed under the emergency rule, but only if the depletion of the source will be fully mitigated. Mitigation can generally be achieved by acquiring and transferring or retiring another existing water right from the same source. Some existing sources of mitigation water are already available and Ecology is developing a water banking system to allow for access to mitigation water by new water uses.

Manning noted the agency remains open to a partnership with the county, and is willing to continue negotiations regarding the proposed partnership approach, but that the agency had to put interim protections in place.

For more information: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wr/cro/kittitas_wp.html

New Steps to Improve Water Quality

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has made available comprehensive reports and data on water enforcement in all 50 states. This is part of Administrator Lisa P. Jackson’s larger effort by to enhance transparency, promote the public’s right to know about water quality and provide information on EPA’s actions to protect water under the Clean Water Act.

Administrator Jackson directed EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) to develop an action plan to enhance public transparency regarding clean water enforcement. In the memo, she also calls for stronger enforcement performance at federal and state levels and a transformation of EPA’s water quality and compliance information systems.

In keeping with this directive, EPA has posted detailed information on the current state of clean water compliance and enforcement in each state, and copies of the latest clean water enforcement and compliance performance reports for each state to the agency’s Web site. EPA also launched new Web-based tools to help the public search, assess, and analyze the data the agency used to help prepare those reports.

These actions are among of several aggressive steps taken by Administrator Jackson to improve the nation’s water quality by increasing the transparency and effectiveness of the agency’s national Clean Water Act enforcement program.

The administrator’s memo directed the agency to take several actions, including:

• Improve and enhance the information available on the EPA website on compliance and enforcement activities in each state, showing connections to local water quality where possible;
• Provide information in a user-friendly format form that is easily understood and useable by the public;
• Raise the bar for clean water enforcement performance and ensure enforcement is taken against serious violations that threaten water quality; and
• Improve EPA’s enforcement performance in states where EPA directly implements the clean water program.

More information on the state-by-state water reports: http://www.epa.gov/compliance/state/srf/index.html

More information on EPA and state water enforcement data:
http://www.epa.gov/compliance/data/results/performance/cwa/index.html

Usda Announces Funding Available For Communities To Assess Future Water And Wastewater Infrastructure Projects

"Many people in smaller communities throughout the country are suffering because their local infrastructure is in desperate need of repair, and this funding will enable these communities to get the technical expertise they need to make these much-needed improvements," said Vilsack. "One of the primary goals of the Recovery Act is to rebuild our communities, and this investment will help us to meet the basic need of providing clean, safe water infrastructure in struggling communities."

The funding will be provided under USDA Rural Development's Rural Water and Wastewater Circuit Rider Program to enable the National Rural Water Association to add 15 water and 71 wastewater technical assistance staff in 2009 and 2010 to help rural communities operate and maintain water and wastewater infrastructure, and provide training and other technical assistance to local staff throughout the country. Known as Circuit Riders, these technical assistance staff will help rural communities prepare proposals for water and wastewater systems, manage construction, offer on-site expertise and ensure that health and environmental protection requirements are met. The assistance provided by Circuit Riders keeps water and wastewater systems in compliance with EPA rules and reduces - often by thousands of dollars - repair and maintenance costs borne by small rural communities that lack sufficient financial resources.

For example, last year, a Circuit Rider in Sedona, Ariz., helped train local water operators on fire hydrant repair. The training enabled the water operators to fix four inoperable hydrants. By repairing and not buying new hydrants, the town was able to save an estimated $10,000. Also in 2008, a Circuit Rider from the Alabama Rural Water Association helped conduct a survey to detect the source of a major water leak that prevented more than 20 customers from receiving water. The Macon County Water Authority in Tuskegee, Ala., will use the survey's findings in its infrastructure rehabilitation plans. USDA's Rural Development funding to state rural water associations will enable other small towns like these have access to technical staff and resources needed to operate and maintain water infrastructure.

The first $4.1 million in funding will be for technical assistance services performed between June 1, 2009, and October 31, 2009. The remainder will be used beginning November 1, 2009. In addition to the $14.2 million, USDA Rural Development anticipates making Recovery Act funds available later in the year through a competitive grant process for further technical assistance services. All states and the Territory of Puerto Rico are eligible to apply.

President Obama signed The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 into law on February 17, 2009. It is designed to jumpstart the nation's economy, create or save millions of jobs and put a down payment on addressing long-neglected challenges so our country can thrive in the 21st century. The Act includes measures to modernize our nation's infrastructure, enhance energy independence, expand educational opportunities, preserve and improve affordable health care, provide tax relief, and protect those in greatest need.

More information about USDA's Recovery Act efforts is available at www.usda.gov/recovery.

Ground-Water Storage and Ground-water storage

Ground-water storage is water existing for long periods below the Earth's surface

Large amounts of water are stored in the ground. The water is still moving, possibly very slowly, and it is still part of the water cycle. Most of the water in the ground comes from precipitation that infiltrates downward from the land surface. The upper layer of the soil is the unsaturated zone, where water is present in varying amounts that change over time, but does not saturate the soil. Below this layer is the saturated zone, where all of the pores, cracks, and spaces between rock particles are saturated with water. The term ground water is used to describe this area. Another term for ground water is "aquifer," although this term is usually used to describe water-bearing formations capable of yielding enough water to supply peoples' uses. Aquifers are a huge storehouse of Earth's water and people all over the world depend on ground water in their daily lives.

The top of the surface where ground water occurs is called the water table. In the diagram, you can see how the ground below the water table is saturated with water (the saturated zone). Aquifers are replenished by the seepage of precipitation that falls on the land, but there are many geologic, meteorologic, topographic, and human factors that determine the extent and rate to which aquifers are refilled with water. Rocks have different porosity and permeability characteristics, which means that water does not move around the same way in all rocks. Thus, the characteristics of ground-water recharge vary all over the world.

To find water underground, look under the (water) table


I hope you appreciate my spending an hour in the blazing sun to dig this hole at the beach. It is a great way to illustrate the concept of how at a certain depth the ground, if it is permeable enough to allow water to move through it, is saturated with water. The top of the pool of water in this hole is the water table. The breaking waves of the ocean are just to the right of this hole, and the water level in the hole is the same as the level of the ocean. Of course, the water level here changes by the minute due to the movement of the tides, and as the tide goes up and down, the water level in the hole moves, too. Just as with this hole, the level of the water table is affected by other environmental conditions.

In a way, this hole is like a dug well used to access ground water, albeit saline in this case. But, if this was freshwater, people could grab a bucket an supply themselves with the water they need to live their daily lives. You know that at the beach if you took a bucket and tried to empty this hole, it would refill immediately because the sand is so permeable that water flows easily through it, meaning our "well" is very "high-yielding" (too bad the water is saline). To access freshwater, people have to drill wells deep enough to tap into an aquifer. The well might have to be dozens or thousands of feet deep. But the concept is the same as our well at the beach—access the water in the saturated zone where the voids in the rock are full of water.

Pumping can affect the level of the water table


In an aquifer, the soil and rock is saturated with water. If the aquifer is shallow enough and permeable enough to allow water to move through it at a rapid-enough rate, then people can drill wells into it and withdraw water. The level of the water table can naturally change over time due to changes in weather cycles and precipitation patterns, streamflow and geologic changes, and even human-induced changes, such as the increase in impervious surfaces, such as roads and paved areas, on the landscape.

The pumping of wells can have a great deal of influence on water levels below ground, especially in the vicinity of the well, as this diagram shows. If water is withdrawn from the ground at a faster rate that it is replenished by precipitation infiltration and seepage from streams, then the water table can become lower, resulting in a "cone of depression" around the well. Depending on geologic and hydrologic conditions of the aquifer, the impact on the level of the water table can be short-lived or last for decades, and the water level can fall a small amount or many hundreds of feet. Excessive pumping can lower the water table so much that the wells no longer supply water—they can "go dry."

Ground water and global water distribution


Ground water occurs only close to the Earth's surface. There must be space between the rock particles for ground water to occur, and the Earth's material becomes denser with more depth. Essentially, the weight of the rocks above condense the rocks below and squeeze out the open pore spaces deeper in the Earth. That is why ground water can only be found within a few miles of the Earth's surface.

As these charts show, even though the amount of water locked up in ground water is a small percentage of all of Earth's water, it represents a large percentage of total freshwater on Earth. The pie chart shows that about 1.7 percent of all of Earth's water is ground water and about 30.1 percent of freshwater on Earth occurs as ground water. As the bar chart shows, about 5,614,000 cubic miles (mi3), or 23,400,000 cubic kilometers (km3), of ground water exist on Earth. About 54 percent is saline, with the remaining 2,526,000 mi3 (10,530,000 km3) , about 46 percent, being freshwater.

Water in aquifers below the oceans is generally saline, while the water below the land surfaces (where freshwater, which fell as precipitation, infiltrates into the ground) is generally freshwater. There is a stable transition zone that separates saline water and freshwater below ground. It is fortunate for us that the relatively shallow aquifers that people tap with wells contain freshwater, since if we tried to irrigate corn fields with saline water I suspect the stalks would refuse to grow.