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States digging deep to monitor water

Posted by: Maven on July 6, 2009 at 10:57 pm

From Inside Bay Area:

About a quarter mile into dense woods, geologists watch as a drilling rig twists a shaft deep into the granite bedrock of southeastern New Hampshire. They are searching for water—not to drink—but to watch.

State and federal agencies have been watching, or monitoring, lakes and rivers for more than a century, but less attention has gone to vast amounts of water in cracks and rock fissures deep underground, leaving a void in understanding a resource growing in importance as demands for water increase and surface water sources are being used to the fullest in many areas.

New Hampshire is drilling a series of wells to monitor groundwater in cracks in granite hundreds of feet below the surface. The goal is to allow scientists to check for contamination; learn about how long it takes for rainfall or melting snow to make its way into the supply; and keep tabs on how climate change, population growth and development affect the water.

State Geologist David Wunsch would like to share the information as part of a nationwide network.

“In the future, your water may come from hundreds of miles away, so in order to get that national picture of ‘Are we depleting some area for the sake of another region?,’ you need to have that national picture,” said Wunsch, who represented state geologists on a national committee that has developed a national groundwater monitoring plan.

Read more from Inside Bay Area by clicking here.

July 6, 2009 · Filed Under Groundwater

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