This is National Groundwater Awareness Week, when we give special recognition to one of our nation’s most valuable resources — groundwater.
Groundwater affects everyone. It supplies the drinking water for nearly half our nation’s population and provides about 40 percent of our irrigation water. It sustains streamflow between precipitation events and during protracted dry periods. And it helps maintain a variety of aquatic ecosystems that are dependent on groundwater discharge to streams, lakes, and wetlands.
Groundwater is a part of our daily lives. Rural farmers and urbanites, water-supply managers and regulators, researchers and policy-makers all have a part to play in the current status and future of our groundwater resources. This valuable resource is right underneath our feet.
