groundwater
Sign in to saveright|thumb|upright=1.5|An illustration showing groundwater in aquifers (in blue) (1, 5 and 6) below the [[water table (4), and three different wells (7, 8 and 9) dug to reach it.]]
AI overview
Groundwater is water that collects underground in layers of rock and soil called aquifers, below a boundary known as the water table. It matters because people drill wells to access this underground water for drinking and other uses.
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Article
27 sectionsContents
- Definition
- Role in the water cycle
- Groundwater recharge
- Location in aquifers
- Characteristics
- Temperature
- Availability
- Uses by humans
- Quantities
- Drinking water quality aspects
- Water supply for municipal and industrial uses
- Irrigation
- In developing countries
- Challenges
- Overdraft
- Subsidence
- Groundwater becoming saline due to evaporation
- Seawater intrusion
- Pollution
- Climate change
- Climate change adaptation
- Climate change mitigation
- Groundwater governance
- By country
- See also
- References
- External links
right|thumb|upright=1.5|An illustration showing groundwater in aquifers (in blue) (1, 5 and 6) below the [[water table (4), and three different wells (7, 8 and 9) dug to reach it.]]
Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated deposit is called an aquifer when it can yield a usable quantity of water. The depth at which soil pore spaces or fractures and voids in rock become completely saturated with water is called the water table. Groundwater is recharged from the surface; it may discharge from the surface naturally at springs and seeps, and can form oases or wetlands. Groundwater is also often withdrawn for agricultural, municipal, and industrial use by constructing and operating extraction wells. The study of the distribution and movement of groundwater is hydrogeology, also called groundwater hydrology.