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3:00am May 3, 2014

soilrockslove:

battlereadyprince:

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soilrockslove replied to your post “are aquifers (and hence, wells) affected by drought?”

yes, (sort of) They aren’t affected directly, but if more people go to using groundwater because other sources are dry - then they can lower the aquifer if they use enough. And in a drought it won’t recharge as fast.

oh, so theoretically a well can last indefinitely if the usage does not surpass its capacity to recharge?

Yes!  However, in many areas, the rate of recharge is super sloooow (compared to how much most people would like to use).  So people would be like “you want me to only draw up how many gallons per year???”. Also, *most* places where recharge *is* fast - there is so much surface water that people don’t know what to do with the surface water they have, and so don’t rely on wells much*.

TL:DR  If you are using wells/groundwater you have to be incredibly careful or you can end up in serious trouble pretty fast (from a falling water table).  And since the falling water table can also affect surface waters and cause them to lessen or disappear - it might be better just to use the surface water to begin with.

If you’re in a place where you have to ask these questions, protect and care for your water.  Water is life.

Edit: sometimes people in areas with lots of rain still use wells because the soil filters things and so they’re less likely to be contaminated with nasties.