Groundwater and the Hydrologic Cycle Essay

Groundwater is in contact with surface water. However, traditionally, groundwater and surface water used to be considered as separate water resources (Winter, 1998). Because of that, management of groundwater and surface water resources poses a risk of allocating the same water twice in the water budget (Geosciences Australia, 2013). Not only two resources are in close contact rather they do interact. So, Winter (1998) considered groundwater and surface water as a single resource.

Undoubtedly, Groundwater plays a significant role in California water supply. During a normal year, 30% of the state 's water supply comes from groundwater. In times of extreme drought, groundwater consumption can rise to 60% or more. Even though groundwater is more evenly distributed, over half of the groundwater is unable to be extracted due to the high pumping cost. The largest groundwater reservoirs are found in the Central Valley, with the majority of the supply existing as runoff that seeps into the aquifer.

Groundwater is water that seeps through the ground and gets stored in aquifers. The supply of groundwater is always changing because it is constantly used and replenished. The groundwater supply replenishes and grows due to rain and snow melt and can decrease due to things like droughts and heavy usage. Depending on the type of surface of the ground as much as 20 percent of the rain and snow melt can seep into the ground or as little as 5 percent (Raymond, 1988). Areas where as much as

Comprising over seventy percent of the Earth's surface, water is undeniably the most valuable natural resource. Life on Earth would be non-existent without water because it is essential for everything on our planet to grow. The human body is composed of 50-80% water. Blood and muscles contain significant amounts, and approximately 95% of the brain is water. All body systems and organs need water to function properly, and will shut down without it. Most of the chemical reactions that take place in our body need water as their medium. We can live without food for a few weeks, but can survive only a few days without water. It's essential because unlike other nutrients, water isn't stored in the body. Typically, everyday, we lose around 10

440). The main way for most aquifers to be recharged is through surface runoff. The rainfall sinks into the ground and percolates or accumulates to a common place (usually an aquifer). Yet this process takes lots of time. Scientists believe it may take centuries to refill some of the deeper aquifers. Water travels especially slow underground. It could take water up to 500 years to travel 15 meters. Aquifers are depended on for roughly 40% of California’s water supply. This number can escalate to 60% during droughts such as the one that just occurred.

Evaporation- when water evaporates in the form of water vapor by the heat of the

fresh water found on planet earth is only a mere one percent (1%) and we have to bear in mind that within that one percent some are found in lakes, rivers, streams and underground aquifers.

The water supply on earth plays a huge role in daily lives. You need to have clean water to drink, do laundry and water your garden. Since water is necessary, the future water supply is very important for future generations. They will need clean water to use daily. Society can not let the water become so polluted and unsanitary that future generations can not use it for their daily needs. Water supply is affected by humans and the area surrounding the water.

Water is essential for life as we know it on earth. It is used by plants

Water is one of the most important elements on Earth and also for our body. We need water to work and function properly and well. Without enough supply of water, our body will grind to a halt and collapse.

Water is essential for life on earth. Water is needed for growing food, keeping ourselves clean, generating power, controlling fire and most importantly to stay alive! This list is simply non-ending. This shows that water is an integral part of our daily life and we are heavily dependent on it.

As we all know, water is essential for mankind's survival. However, people seem to believe that our water supply is endless since there is more water than land on this Earth. Water regenerates and is redistributed through evaporation, making it seem endlessly renewable. So why worry?

Water is considered as an essential for human existence. We all can survive without food for some day but no one can live without water at least two days. Human body consists of 70% percent of water and our globe is covered by 69.9% percent of water. But unfortunately the useable fresh water is just 2.5% out of it. Water is a social good, water is an economic good, water has ecological value and water has religious, moral and cultural value.

The voids are spaces between grains of sand, or cracks in dense rock. All water beneath the land surface occurs within such void space sand is referred to as underground or subsurface water. Subsurface water occurs in two different zones. One zone, located immediately beneath the land surface in most areas, contains both water and air in the voids. This zone is referred to as the unsaturated zone. Other names for the unsaturated zone are zone of aeration and vadose zone. The unsaturated zone is almost always underlain by a second zone in which all voids are full of water. This zone is defined as the saturated zone. Water in the saturated zone is referred to as ground water and is the only subsurface water available to supply wells and springs. Water table is often misused as a synonym for ground water. However, the water table is actually the boundary between the unsaturated and saturated zones. It represents the upper surface of the ground water. Technically speaking, it is the level at which the hydraulic pressure is equal to atmospheric pressure. The water level found in unused wells is often the same level as the water table. AQUIFERS An aquifer is a saturated geologic formation that will yield a usable quantity of water to a well or spring. Ground water occurs in aquifers under two conditions: confined and unconfined. A confined aquifer is overlain by a confining bed, such as an impermeable layer of clay

Water is our main source of our life. We need it to live, drink, bathe,