Wells and aquifers
Groundwater is an important source of fresh water for people all over the world
Our planet has an abundance of water, and it is the source of all life on Earth, but when you pour yourself a refreshing drink of cold water from the tap, you probably don’t think of the kilometres it has travelled from its source to your glass.
More than 70 per cent of our planet is covered in water, and a large portion of fresh water is stored beneath the surface as groundwater. This groundwater can be accessed by building wells – something humans first started doing around 8,000 years ago in the Neolithic period. These were mostly hand-dug wells, a method still relied upon by millions of people living in rural areas of developing countries. However, many hand-dug wells are now having pumps added to their systems or are being built deeper as a result of more sophisticated methods that make extracting the water a much more efficient process than it once was.
Wells accessing groundwater reservoirs provide 25 to 40 per cent of the world’s drinking water. The reservoirs of water are stored under the surface in aquifers. Some aquifers are closer to the surface and are regularly replenished directly by rain (or melted snow) seeping into the ground, while others deeper in the ground may take longer to replenish as they gain their source from aquifers higher up. Many of these reservoirs were recharged in ancient times over thousands of years, making them renewable sources of water. Wells are built into these aquifers using different methods to access the drinkable water below.
“More than 70 per cent of our planet is covered in water, and a large portion is groundwater”