How To Extract Water From an Aquifer
Aquifers are essential to our survival. They store ground water and enable life to flourish in regions that would be otherwise virtually uninhabitable. Humans have become very good at exploiting natural resources such as aquifers, but this very fact makes them vulnerable. Our ever-increasing water demands mean that some aquifers are being depleted more rapidly than they can be replenished, which means the water supply is coming under threat.
For exploitation of an aquifer to be sustainable it is necessary for its water content to be replenished at least as quickly as it is extracted. Water is normally drawn from aquifers using wells, although if an aquifer outcrops at the Earth’s surface then drilling a well may not be necessary as groundwater can seep from it naturally. Where this ...