Aquifer Depletion Essay

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Aquifer Depletion If given the opportunity to research any of the resource problems, I would choose to research the water resources problems. The reason for this is because the world cannot exist without water. Every living thing depends on water and would not survive without it. Of all the water resource problems that we currently have, I believe that the one most important to solve would be the depletion of aquifer supplies. An aquifer is the body of sand that is able to store or produce large amounts of water. It can be anywhere from a few feet deep to a few hundred feet deep. From a bird’s eye view it can spread as far as a few miles. There are two kinds of aquifers, confined and unconfined. A confined aquifer is surrounded by what is called an aquitard, rock formations that do not allow fluid to leak through. "An unconfined aquifer is one that is hydraulically open or connected to the surface." (World of Earth Science, 2005-2006) Aquifer depletions are a rising issue for today's economy. It is spreading all over the world and is causing problems over the world. Aquifer depletion is when people use lakes and rivers for a water source at such a quick pace that it has no time to naturally replenish itself. Most do not notice a well going dry until it is too late. The reason for this depletion is because the demand for water supply has tripled over the last 25 years. Droughts certainly do not help the problem at hand. Some of the negative effects of depletion are dry wells, salt water intrusion, poor water quality, and rising costs of pumping. Dry wells are caused from being drawn from too much without allowing the well to naturally replenish it. Low water tables also factor in with dry wells. Salt water intrusion is caused from having a well too close to where there is salt water. This can in turn affect the quality of the water. Aquifers were first tapped for

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