RECHARGING DRINKING WATER
            Water is being continuously recycled through evaporation and precipitation. We know that rain and other precipitation are the only way our fresh water supply can be replenished.
            Some simple observations reveal where the rain goes. It falls through the air and runs along the surface of the earth or soaks into the ground. One of the facts about water that affects its quality on the way to our drinking glass is one of the reasons water is so useful to us – water is a very good solvent. Water is easily mixed or combined with other matter.
            Even as the rain or other precipitation falls through the air, it is mixing, combining with, and dissolving substances from the air. What is in the air makes a difference as to how pure the water is when it gets to the ground.
            When rain touches the ground, some of the water flows along the surface (run off). Anything over which the water flows has the potential for adding some of its matter to the water. As water flows over the surface it can pick up particles of soil, nutrients, pesticides, or discarded chemicals that flow with it to a stream, river, or lake. In many communities surface water, treated for impurities, is used to provide drinking water to urban residents.
            Some of the rain infiltrates (soaks into) the soil. Plants use some for their life processes returning water to the atmosphere through transpiration.  Some rain moves downward and flows under the surface (groundwater) to a stream or river or lake. What we call the water table marks the surface of saturated ground where the water is in the soil or rock in much the way that water saturates a sponge. Groundwater is always moving, taking with it whatever is dissolved or mixed in it. Where groundwater meets streams or wetlands, it can mingle with surface water.
            How fast the water moves through the soil depends on the soil type. Some soils of fine particles that are very dense slow down the water and allow for some natural purification. In other less dense soils, and in sand, gravel, and fractured rock the water flows more quickly and can pass through to great depths below the surface without the chance for natural purification.
In rural areas and communities in our part of Illinois, we tap into groundwater with wells to provide drinking water. Surface water and groundwater flow toward points from which wells are pumping water. Community wells treat water for harmful microorganisms and chemicals. The quality of water from private wells is the owner’s responsibility.
            As we go about our daily lives we need to be very thoughtful about what we put in the path of the rain as it moves to our drinking glass.

Della Moen, Earth Team Volunteer, NRCS/Stephenson Soil and Water
Conservation District, an equal opportunity provider and employer, 04/23/08
(for publication on 05/03/08 in the Journal-Standard, Freeport, Illinois).
Della can be reached at info@stephensonswcd.org