The other day I took a group of scouts for a walk in a small forest nestled within our city to look at signs of spring. While on that walk we noted the water was flowing very fast in the small creek bed, pulling trees and brush around its edges into the fast flowing water. We started to talk about our water source, how clean it is, where it comes from, what is done to make it potable and why as a nation we need to be considering ways to protect and preserve our clean water supply and ensure there is ample supply for our future generations. One of the scouts made a comment about how this did not make sense – that there was lots of water everywhere and that we just had to turn on a tap in our homes and we would get all the drinkable water we water.
This conversation really highlighted the need to educate our youth about what is happening on our planet with respect to our water, specifically our groundwater. According to the EPA, 40% of people living in the United States use groundwater for drinking, cooking, cleaning, showering, and all other types of activities. Ninety-seven percent of people living in rural areas of the nation use groundwater, and 30%-40% of water used agriculturally (for farming) is also from the ground. These numbers make it clear how important clean groundwater is and how prevalent its use is.
So what can we do to work with our younger generations to protect our groundwater sources? One of the things we can do is be aware of what we are planting in our yards, our communities and parks. We need to use native plants – they don’t need much water and are adapted for our climate. This allows many grass varieties to grow naturally without much human interference. By doing this, we also avoid using additional chemicals on our yards. Another way that we all can commit to helping is by being smarter with our water use – not letting taps run when brushing our teeth, taking shorter showers, watering lawns less often and during the coolest parts of the day, fixing all leaks in faucets and toilets and taps in your homes, having shorter showers and only running full loads in the dish and clothes washers. School and community groups can do their parts by getting involved and learning more about groundwater and how we can work together to preserve this natural resource.
The first battle that we must all wage is protecting our groundwater sources. The next one is being effective in how we use the sources we have. Here at American Water Surveyors we are dedicated to being the premier service provider in the water finding industry. We use the world’s leading edge technology to measure groundwater depths and yields. Our applications assist ranchers/farmers, municipalities, homeowners, real estate developers, golf course developers, water well drillers and any other entity requiring well locating or completion planning. Call or email American Water Surveyors at [email protected] to find out more about our services or to request a quote.
