Health Boards


Encyclopedia


My Profile

Health Boad


Health Jobs


Shopping


Health Tools

Aquifer

An underground geological formation, or group of formations, containing usable amounts of groundwater that can supply wells or springs for domestic, industrial, and irrigation uses. Removing more groundwater from an aquifer than is naturally replenished is called overdrafting, and can result in a dropping water table, increased pumping costs, land subsidence (which reduces the future recharge capacity), saltwater intrusion, reduced streamflows in interconnected ground- and surface-water systems, and exhaustion of groundwater reserves. Overdrafting groundwater occurs primarily in the Plains States and the West.


Selected Aquifer links:

© 1997-2006 Healthboard.com.   Healthboard.com is a purely informational website, and should not be used as a substitute for professional legal, medical or technical advice.