(diagram above: groundwater interacts with the overall water cycle. it can be polluted and extracted. it also feeds into some rivers and streams — including spring creek, which was the subject of this recent feature story.)
By John Sutter
Yes, there’s water underground. Not really rivers of it, but it is there, creeping through porous rocks much like oil does.
In this environment podcast, I talk with Mike Paque, executive director of the Ground Water Protection Council, a national group, which happens to be based in Oklahoma City, that is out to inform the public and the wonders and vulnerability of the water beneath our feet.
Groundwater is a precious resource, Paque argues, but it’s also one we know very little about–especially in Oklahoma. State regulators don’t have a firm grasp of how much groundwater sits under the state, or how polluted it may be.
Also, interestingly, groundwater is a property right in Oklahoma, so, if you own land, you also own rights to some of the water beneath you. That makes regulating its use tricky. In some parts of the state–particularly far western areas–more groundwater is taken out every year than rain can put back. Nationally, there’s been a 23 percent increase in the amount of water taken out of the ground since 1970, according to GWPC.
Why care? Well, if you live in western Oklahoma, you probably get your drinking water from beneath the ground. About half of all people in the U.S. get their drinking water from groundwater supplies, and groundwater makes up the vast majority of usable fresh water on earth. If you’re a farmer and you irrigate your crops, that water likely comes from down in the soil. Industry also uses groundwater to generate electricity. Thirty-nine percent of the water used in the U.S. goes toward making power.
But what do you think? How much to you know about groundwater? What else do you want to know? Do you care about this resource? What rules should be in place to protect it? I’ll do my best to find answers or explanations for you.
Here’s a basic info sheet on groundwater from the GWPC.
Also, here’s the EPA’s explainer on the subject.