Groundwater Awareness Week
#GroundwaterAwarenessWeek
Groundwater Awareness Week is an annual event that brings attention to one of the world’s most important yet often overlooked natural resources—groundwater. The week encourages regular water well testing, proper well maintenance, and the promotion of policies that protect groundwater quality and supply. It serves as a reminder that what happens beneath the surface has a direct impact on the health of people, communities, and the environment.
First established in 1999 by the National Ground Water Association, the event has grown into a nationwide effort involving homeowners, farmers, policymakers, and environmental groups. Its purpose is to encourage the responsible development, management, and use of groundwater, while highlighting the challenges this resource faces.
Groundwater is found beneath the Earth’s surface in the spaces between rocks, sand, and soil. It forms when rain, snow, or other surface water seeps into the ground and collects in underground layers called aquifers. These aquifers can store large amounts of water, which can be accessed naturally through springs or by drilling wells and pumping it out. While it cannot be seen, groundwater plays a critical role in daily life. It provides drinking water for millions of people, supports agriculture, and supplies water for industry. In many rural areas, it is the only source of fresh water. Globally, nearly half of all drinking water comes from underground sources.
Despite its importance, groundwater is vulnerable to both pollution and overuse. Contamination can occur when harmful substances such as pesticides, fertilizers, industrial chemicals, or leaking septic waste seep into the ground and reach aquifers. Because groundwater moves slowly underground, these pollutants can remain for decades before breaking down, making cleanup difficult and expensive. Overuse is another major concern. When groundwater is pumped out faster than it is replenished, aquifer levels drop. This can lead to water shortages, reduced flow to rivers and wetlands, and even land subsidence, where the ground sinks due to the loss of water underground.
Climate change adds to the pressure on this resource by altering rainfall patterns and increasing the frequency and severity of droughts. These changes affect how much water is available to recharge aquifers while also increasing demand from agriculture, cities, and industries. Managing groundwater sustainably is becoming increasingly urgent.
One of the key goals of Groundwater Awareness Week is to promote policies that protect and preserve groundwater. These policies may set limits on how much can be extracted, create monitoring programs to track water quality, or safeguard recharge areas from pollution. In the United States, groundwater laws vary by state, and in some regions, aquifers are shared between states, requiring cooperation to manage them effectively. Good policies balance human needs with environmental protection, ensuring that water remains available for both people and natural ecosystems.
Public awareness is just as important as policy. Many people do not realize that their household water may come from underground sources or that private wells need regular testing to ensure safety. Annual testing can detect contaminants such as bacteria, nitrates, and heavy metals before they become health hazards. Proper well maintenance and careful management of waste, chemicals, and runoff can help prevent pollution from reaching groundwater. The everyday choices made by individuals and communities can have a lasting effect on the quality of water below the surface.
Groundwater is a shared resource that crosses property lines, political borders, and generations. Its health today will determine its availability tomorrow. Groundwater Awareness Week is a reminder that, while this resource may be hidden from view, it is far from limitless. Protecting it requires action from governments, industries, and individuals alike. The decisions made now—about how water is used, how land is managed, and how pollution is controlled—will determine whether clean and reliable groundwater remains available for decades to come.
How to celebrate:
- If you have a well, perform a periodic inspection
- Conserve water
- Protect your water landscape with native plants
- Share your knowledge about groundwater with others
- Don’t over-fertiize your lawn to prevent nutrient runoff
- Get your water tested if you see a change in taste, odour or appearance.
Fun facts:
- The United States used 82.3 billion gallons of fresh groundwater per day for public supply, private supply, irrigation, livestock, manufacturing, mining and thermoelectric power.
- 1 in 3 people in the US get their drinking water from the ground
- Irrigation accounts for the largest use of groundwater in the United States.
- 99% of the Earth’s usable water is groundwater
- Ogallala is the largest US aquifer, stretching 250,000 square miles, encompassing eight states from South Dakota to Texas.
- The largest aquifer in the world is the Great Artesian Basin in Australia
