Madison's Water Supply: Underground and unknown
Water conservation has never been the main environmental issue on my mind. I’ve always been focused on things I consider to be more flashy environmental issues, like endangered species or the deforestation of rainforests. But I myself think it’s odd that I haven’t put more thought into the importance of water conservation, considering how much it impacts our daily lives. It’s hard to even imagine what my life would look like without any running water. No water to fill my bath, none to flush the toilet, do the dishes, or even just get a glass of tap water. I think the reason I don’t think about it more is because clean and readily available water is something I take for granted. It’s always been there, and it always will be there. But that’s obviously not true.
Up until I started doing a little digging, I had no clue
where Madison’s water supply comes from. It turns out, despite being surrounded
by numerous lakes, Madison’s water come from an underground aquifer. This sandstone
aquifer is located hundreds of feet under the city and offers up 10 billion
gallons of water to Madison annually. I’ve lived in Madison my entire life and could
never have told you that this was the case. So, I have to assume the majority
of Madisonians don’t know where there water comes from either. Which makes me
wonder if not knowing where your water comes from is a problem? If you don’t
know where it comes from you probably don’t know the details about how its
being used. Your probably unaware of any problems that may or may not be arising
with it. For 50 years, from 1950 to 2000, Madison’s aquifer was depleting and
not recharging. The aquifer has since rebounded, which is being attributed to
better technology and more conscientious use of the water. While this is a bit
of old news, I still had never heard of it before. Which me wonder if there was
an issue like this today, would I know about it? I don’t search out news about
my water supply, or water conservation in general. And I don’t think
it’s often the type of environmental issue that makes headlines (until its already
negatively impacting a community). If there was a problem with my water supply,
would I know before I could no longer wash my dishes?
Sources:
https://www.hydroviv.com/blogs/water-quality-report/madison#:~:text=Madison%20tap%20water%20is%20groundwater,including%205%20elevated%20water%20towers.
https://www.cityofmadison.com/water/insidemwu/all-eyes-on-the-aquifer-is-madisons-water-supply-sustainable
Photo:
https://water.usgs.gov/GIS/dsdl/gwmodels/WGNHS2016-Dane_County/WGNHS_B110-report.pdf
Hi Gabrielle! I also had no idea that Madison's water came from underground. I wonder if more people knew that would they try to protect our water reserves more? Or would they assume that none of their daily actives could harm it? I hope that if we relied on Lake Mendota we would do better to protect it. But also I don't think things need to have 'usefulness' to inherently have worth. Living in the Midwest, we definitely think about water differently than people in somewhere like Arizona. I believe that they need to be mindful about their water use and yes, maybe some days they might skip washing their dishes.
ReplyDeleteInteresting topic, Gabrielle! I became interested in where the water from my tap came from a few months ago, and I found out we're able to look up which well our water comes from. Here's the link: https://www.cityofmadison.com/water/waterquality/mywells.cfm. I found out my water comes from Well #24. I think it's important for people to access this information. Since learning about the source of my water, I'm thinking about Madison's wells and water treatment every time I turn on my water. I'm also increasingly concerned about threats to these wells such as PFAS, nitrates, and pathogens. I think learning where are water comes from is a simple step that can help people feel more connected and protective of water resources.
ReplyDeleteHi Gabrielle, Great post. I thought it was really interesting the point you made how Madisons water comes from an underground aquifer despite being surrounded by lakes. I think this speaks to the damage that we have done to natural bodies of water that we have had easy access to like that and poses multiple questions from me like, how many other cities or places also get their water from other sources despite being surrounded by freshwater as well as what do we need to do to restore these bodies of water to be more useful again. I also thought it was interesting how we have depleted the aquifer that we are currently using also begging the question what do we do after we have exhausted that resource.
ReplyDeleteHello Gabrielle, I really enjoyed reading your post. I found your candor really relatable, and I think it likely reflects a lot of peoples thoughts on water. Water is one of those things that people definitely take advantage of, and not for any fault of their own. When a resource is there, who is necessarily reading into the how's, why's, and where's of the resource they see in front of them? But I also think your'e right to think that this same thing is what makes people unappreciative of the resource. The lack of education on where a resource comes from is staggering when you really think of it. Say your'e like me and your'e a out of towner, walking into their newly leased apartment. You walk in and without thinking turn on the sink, the shower, the toilet. I have no clue where this water is from! I'm blindly consuming and using it as I please, completely ignoring the absolute feat of engineering, time, and brainpower that went into developing the process that brought this water from within the earth, to out of my faucet. In an ideal world, maybe there would be some sort of pamphlet or video that I could read or watch to explain all of this to me. Maybe that would help people understand the importance of conserving the water. I think you are definitely on to something there.
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