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About water? What is there to know about water? After all, the earth's surface is made up mainly of water, isn't
it? Though most of the earth's surface is covered with water, fresh clean drinking water is in short supply. Fresh water,
like the air we breathe, is essential to life. Without it, life as we know it will cease to exist. Each of us is responsible
for doing our part to conserve water.
Ground Water, Surface Water, Springs, and the Water Cycle
Water collecting on the surface of the ground in lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams is called surface water. Surface water is replenished through precipitation.
Ground water is located below the ground surface in aquifers. An aquifer is a layer of permeable material (e.g. sand, gravel or fractured bedrock) that is capable of providing usable quantities of water. Water may be withdrawn from aquifers by way of water wells which are drilled or dug into the water bearing formation. Ground water is replenished by seepage of surface water into the aquifer.
A spring is a point where groundwater flows out of the ground. A spring may be ephemeral (intermittent) or perennial (continuous). A spring is nature's way of providing fresh water which has been filtered naturally through the sand and other types of permeable material.
The chart shown here, depicting the Water Cycle, is from the USGS website.
For more information, please visit:
http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycle.html  |
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Our logo says it all...
Native Waters, LLC * Oklahoma City, OK * US * |
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