BAI Group proudly recognizes September 3rd as “Protect Your Groundwater Day (PYGD).” PYGD is an annual observance established by the National Groundwater Association to promote the responsible development, management, and use of groundwater.
To create more awareness for groundwater protection, we’ve compiled some of the most interesting and eye-opening facts to signify the importance groundwater has on natural life:
- Only 1% of the water on Earth is useable – 99% of which is groundwater.
- 44% of the U.S. population relies on groundwater for its drinking water supply.
- Groundwater is the world’s most extracted raw material with an estimated withdrawal rate of over 200 trillion gallons per year.
- 53.5 billion gallons of groundwater are used for agricultural irrigation each day. In 1900 that number was 2.2 billion.
- The largest U.S. aquifer is the Ogallala, underlying 250,000 square miles stretching from Texas to South Dakota. Scientists estimate it could take 6,000 years to naturally refill the aquifer if it were fully depleted.
- 13.2 million households have their own well, representing 34 million people.
- Michigan has the most private water wells (Pennsylvania is not far behind with over 1 million private water wells).
- On average, a Pennsylvania stream gets about two-thirds of its flow from groundwater.
Sources: NGWA, USGS
Many Americans are not aware that groundwater is one of our most valuable natural resources – serving as a major source of water worldwide. In addition, our groundwater supply contributes to our nation’s many streams, benefiting our wildlife and plants. The largest sources of contamination to groundwater include storage tanks, uncontrolled waste disposal sites, septic systems, chemical usage, road salt, and even contaminants in the atmosphere.
For over 30 years, BAI Group has assisted Fortune 500 firms, manufacturers, attorneys, industrial facilities, waste management firms, and contractors with groundwater-related issues including leaking underground storage tanks, remediation, environmental permitting, groundwater sampling, and testing. Contact us today to learn more about our groundwater services.