1. Ground water: Why and How We Use and Protect It
Classroom Presentation – Middle School

2. What Is Ground Water?

3. Earth’s Fresh Water

4. Distribution of Earth’s Water

5. All Water On Earth Unusable 99% Groundwater 99% Lakes 0.86 %
Rivers 0.02 %

6. Ground water is an important part of our lives every day
The average person uses 50 to 120 gallons of water every day, for drinking, bathing, cooking, washing clothes
If you live in a home that uses its own well, you are also using ground water
In Louisiana, there are 11 principle freshwater aquifers of which hundreds of millions of gallons of water per day are withdrawn from each

7. Using Water In Louisiana
In Louisiana, we use 1.6 billion gallons of ground water every day
About 770 million gallons a day of that goes to home wells and public water supply
Ground Water Aquifers are permeable, saturated zones or rock or sand that contain water
For example, the Lafayette area draws ground water from the Chicot Aquifer
The Chicot and Mississippi River Alluvial aquifers account for about 80 percent of ground water use in Louisiana, more than 1 billion gallons a day

8. Our Concerns About Ground Water
Conservation
Contamination

9. Conservation
We do not want to take water from an aquifer at such a rate that we exceed its ability to “recharge”
“Recharge” is the term used in describing how an aquifer soaks in more water to replace what is leaving due to wells or the natural water cycle
If that balance is lost, the “water table” falls

10. What you can do conserve water
Turn water off while you are brushing your teeth
Don’t run the water constantly when washing dishes
Or, if you have a dishwasher, only run it when full
Take less time in the shower
If you see a leaking faucet, let someone know to get it fixed
Remember that your toilet is not a trash can, don’t use it to flush what can be thrown away

11. Contamination
Household cleaners can contribute to ground water contamination
Chemicals you use outside can contribute to ground water contamination
Litter can contribute to ground water contamination
Spills of oil or gasoline outside can contribute to ground water contamination

12. What You Can Do To Protect Against Contamination
Don’t litter, and pick up litter when you see it
Reuse and recycle when you can
Don’t pour household chemicals down drains or onto ground
When working outside, try to minimize the use of chemicals on lawns
If handling chemicals outside, be careful not to spill onto ground

13. Worldwide Concern, Not Just Louisiana
1.5 billion people in world depend on ground water for drinking water
Of all the water in the world humans can drink, 98 percent is stored in aquifers as ground water.

14. Protect Our Natural Resources