Current USGS Groundwater Conditions Across the U.S.
Groundwater plays a huge role in day to day lives, even if you don’t realize it. Groundwater supplies drinking water for 51% of the total U.S. population and 99% of the rural population. Groundwater also helps grow our food, it’s used as an important component in many industrial processes, and it’s a source of recharge for lakes, rivers, and wetlands. We want to take an in-depth look into the current groundwater conditions across the United States, as well as dive into how frozen groundwater and flooding can also be affected.
This next map shows the Climate Response Network. This is a network of wells that monitor the effect of droughts and other climate variability in groundwater levels.
Curious what areas have below normal groundwater levels? This map from GroundWaterWatch.usgs.gov contains water levels from wells where the most recent water-level is in the 24th percentile or lower of the period of record statistics.
The National Aquifer Composite Hydrograph shows composite hydrography from selected national aquifers with wells whose period of record is 30 years or greater.
What Is Groundwater?
Groundwater is the water that is found underground in the cracks and spaces. It’s stored in and moves slowly through geologic formations of soil, sand, and rocks. These spaces are called aquifers, and the speed at which the groundwater flows depends on the size of the spaces in the soil or rock. Groundwater can be found almost everywhere. The water table could be deep or shallow, and it could rise or fall depending on many factors. One huge factor is heavy rains or melting snow. These weather conditions can cause the water table to rise. However, the water table can fall when heavy pumping of the groundwater supplies happens.Groundwater Conditions Across the U.S.
The National Ground-Water Monitoring Network complies information from over 7,000 groundwater monitoring wells across the country. There is a Real-Time Groundwater Level Network, which has a large network of wells that transmit data to the USGS offices every 1 to 4 hours.
This next map shows the Climate Response Network. This is a network of wells that monitor the effect of droughts and other climate variability in groundwater levels.
Curious what areas have below normal groundwater levels? This map from GroundWaterWatch.usgs.gov contains water levels from wells where the most recent water-level is in the 24th percentile or lower of the period of record statistics.
The National Aquifer Composite Hydrograph shows composite hydrography from selected national aquifers with wells whose period of record is 30 years or greater.
Flooding & Groundwater
Flooding can be extremely overwhelming to groundwater wells. As water rapidly rises, bacteria, nitrates, and other contaminants can run into water systems. These contaminants could come from farms, septic systems, and other sources that are very hard to control. The DNR warned that consumers who observe flooding or changes in their water should assume that their wells are contaminated. In fact, water quality can be contaminated even when there are no major signs of flooding.Winter Groundwater Conditions
There are studies that have been done through experiments in Minnesota and Nebraska that showed how ground-water levels fall from 1 to 2 feet during the winter, and that it was linked to the reduction in air temperature. The levels would then rise again at the same time that the temperature increased in the spring. The biggest thing to note, though, is that when the snow melts, water tends to follow several pathways downhill, and into rivers and streams. This not only causes the groundwater tables to rise in the winter and spring, but it will bring flooding to communities. Now is the time for communities to prepare for the expected snowmelt flooding by stocking up on the best flood barriers on the market.
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