Lake Windermere & Athalmere bridge
The infamous corporate raider and robber baron of the oil industry, T. Boone Pickens, (who coined the expression “Water is the New Oil”) is leading the charge to enrich himself. Pickens was one of the first to rush to capitalize on the impending water shortage by his acquisition of the largest underground aquifer in the US, the Ogallala Aquifer, containing a quadrillion gallons of water, This massive underground reservoir extends from Texas to South Dakota.
The real potential water resources of the planet are not above the surface but below ground. A recent study commissioned by the District of Invermere (DOI) indicates that a large body of fresh water is BELOW Windermere Lake. This water is approximately 15-30M below the lake in an aquifer. An aquifer is referred to as ground water not surface water and the DOI has implemented a Groundwater Protection Plan to maintain the integrity of this source of water.
Diagram illustrating how water is cycled around.
The average North American’s water usage is 2,000 gallons per day, which is about twice the global users consumption. However only 5% of this is for toilets, taps, gardens while 95% is for food, energy, services. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that 70% of the world's water is used for agricultural purposes. It takes approximately 15,000 litres of water to produce one kilogram of meat while a kilogram of wheat requires approximately 1,500 litres. A head of lettuce to grow needs 3.5 gallons of water and one walnut needs 5 gallons. Tap water consumption is approximately 140 gallons litres per day for the average person in North America or about 10,000 gallons per household per month.
The water we use comes from surface water and groundwater. Surface water is sourced from lakes, rivers and streams, while groundwater is the water that is below the surface and even below bodies of water, for example the aquifer under Lake Windermere. Groundwater feeds the surface water in numerous instances. For example Columbia Lake is continually fed by groundwater. Groundwater will soon be the sole source of fresh water at Fairmont Hot Springs once the wells, new pipeline and storage tank are completed potentially to supply over 1 million Imperial gallons per day. The current surface water system from Cold Stream Creek will be abandoned the fall of 2015.
The District of Invermere has implemented a Groundwater Protection Plan to ensure the sustainability of its water resources. The aquifer at Athalmere is approximately 260 feet (80 m) below the surface and extending under Lake Windermere.
Some of the groundwater aquifers are referred to as “fossil water” as it is considered to be 10,000 years or older and not always rechargeable, at least in the short term. So far geologists have identified at least 2 major aquifers that straddle the Canada/USA border. The Great Plains Aquifer that lies beneath large swaths of southern Saskatchewan and Manitoba, most of North and South Dakota, half of Montana and a third of Wyoming. Much of the water has been underground since the last ice age, or earlier, and moves through complex rock formations. The Milk River Aquifer underlies about 50,000 square kilometres of Montana and Alberta.
Geologists consider groundwater as a major force in geological change. The fluid pressures exerted by groundwater, for example, play an important role in the occurrence of earthquakes. Geologists also know that the movement of water through underground geologic formations controls the migration and the accumulation of petroleum and the formation of some ore deposits. Interestingly, earthquakes in Alaska, Montana and Idaho have altered the temperature, flow rates and temperature at the hot springs in Radium.
Places like the Cayman Islands, Aruba, Saudi Arabia depend on mechanically converting saltwater and brackish water to consumable water at considerable expense by using Reverse Osmosis and co-generation. Tampa Florida is investing heavily in containment facilities and their desalinization plant produces 25 million gallons per day.
Acknowledgements to: Water.org, fewresources.org, Natural Resources Canada, District of Invermere,
In order to log this Earthcache, you are required to email tbladvisors (do not post in your log) the answers to the following: a) Looking to the NNE approximately 1 Kilometer away, what surface water erosion do you notice and what land forms are being created? b) Looking due N what water created feature do you see that is about 150 metres away and is this ground water or surface water?
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