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| Title: | Ground Water in Delaware |
| Authors: | Woodruff, K.D. |
| Issue Date: | Feb-1998 |
| Publisher: | Newark, DE: Delaware Geological Survey, University of Delaware |
| Series/Report no.: | Information;3 |
| Abstract: | Because of its "renewability" water is unique among earth resources that sustain and enhance life. No other mineral resource that we extract on a long-term and continuous basis can be counted on for at least some degree of replenishment within a human lifetime. This attribute allows a great deal of flexibility in management of the resource. In Delaware local rainfall, approximately 40" to 44" per year, renews part or all of our water supply on a regular basis. However, not all of the rain that falls is available for use. From this total rainfall must be subtracted the water that evaporates (about 20"/ year), the amount that is used by plants (about 3"/year), and the amount that runs overland to surface streams during storms (about 4"-5"/year). The remainder, approximately 13" to 15" is Delaware's bank of water for the year. This water is stored in a system of ground-water reservoirs, or aquifers, that underlie most of the State. Not only do these ground-water reservoirs provide water to wells but they also maintain the flow in surface streams during times of no rainfall. Streamflow between rainfall events is nothing more than the discharge of excess ground water. |
| URI: | http://dspace.udel.edu:8080/dspace/handle/19716/4293 |
| Appears in Collections: | Information Series
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