Using the EPA groundwater site (http://www.epa.gov/seahome/groundwater/src/basics.htm#menu), answer the following questions:

1. Define groundwater.
2. How much of the earth's freshwater supply is available as surface or ground water? How much of this is ground water?
3. Out of 10, how many public water systems get their water from wells?
4. What is a PWS?
5. How much water falls on the United States each day?
6. Does the earth ever lose water?
7. What is the water budget and what is the US water budget?
8. How much rain goes back into the ground annually? Should this affect the way we use water?
9. How much water is used in the US each day? Knowing how much water falls on the US each year, calculate how many days it takes to use the annual amount of precipitation. What percent of this water used goes back into the ground?
10. What percent of Americans live in the arid west? What percent of the US water do they use daily?
11. What is the zone where the term groundwater is used correctly?
12. What is an aquifer?
13. How much will groundwater typically flow each year?
14. What are some factors that influence recharge rate?
15. What is the downdraw and how is it helpful?

Answers

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Groundwater

• Getting the Groundwater Picture
• Soil Layers and Groundwater
• The Water Race
• Groundwater Internet Sites
• Thirsty Plants
• Changing Groundwater Levels
• Design a Septic Tank