Depletion Of Groundwater And The Rise Of Population

The air we breathe is essential to keep us alive, the same also apply for the water. From every forms of life, the production of as little as a paper clip to as big as an airplane, everything needs water. Water covers 70 percent of the earth’s surface with 96.5 percent found in seas and ocean, known as saltwater or seawater. The rest 3.5 percent is known as freshwater which the primary source of water needed to support our life, found in groundwater and in glaciers and the ice caps of Antarctica and Greenland. Nonetheless, â€Å"of that small number, less than 1 percent is easily accessible for human use; most of the rest is locked up in polar ice caps or buried deep in underground aquifers that catch and hold groundwater† (Haugen and Musser†¦show more content†¦There are two major problem regarding groundwater. First, groundwater contamination which also caused by surface water contamination. Pollutants from surface water, such as fish kills, discoloration and odor, is brought downward by water travelling through soil which cause the groundwater contamination (Kenski 3). Because groundwater is less visible compare to surface water, it is hardly noticed and cleaned. Consequently, groundwater quality becomes poor and needs another long procedure to revert it back to usable freshwater. Groundwater contaminations happen around the world that contribute to world’s water shortage. Nonetheless, the main concern of groundwater is the overuse of groundwater without fast natural restore which leads to groundwater depletion. Actually, groundwater is not fairly distributed all over the world in the first place, but the whole world mostly depends on groundwater as prime source of freshwater. As the most accessible source of freshwater, we use groundwater as supplier of drinking water for half of the U.S. population and nearly 100 percent of rural population. Furthermore, more than half of agricultural sector depends on groundwater as source of irrigation. Not to mention all other use of underground, we can tell that we have been overusing groundwater. Thus, if