Tag Archives: Great Artesian Basin

“My water well taps into an underground river” and other myths

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An excavated watertable in a gravel pit

“Our water well taps into an underground lake”.
“There’s an underground river running beneath our property”.
“The river under our property comes from that volcano over there” (about 100km away)

These are just some of the explanations and descriptions of groundwater that persist in common discussion.  Of course there are ‘underground rivers’ but they are generally restricted to limestone country, along with landforms like karst and sinkholes.  But underground lakes…?

This, the 3rd post in the Groundwater Series looks at aquifers and groundwater storage

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Whiskey is for drinkin’; water is for fightin!

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San Joaquin Valley land subsidence caused by groundwater miningMark Twain wasn’t far wrong with this sardonic, perceptive quip.  If he was able to comment on the global water situation today, he might add “I guess so, I dunno.

This is the first in a series of posts on underground water, or groundwater.  The posts will outline, with a non-specialist perspective, the science of aquifers, groundwater movement, how groundwater interacts with surface water, water extraction-pumping, and contamination. Continue reading

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