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Groundwater Pumping

Ever think about where bottled water comes from? Aside from the grocery store shelf, that is. It comes from groundwater, but when companies take it out of the ground, there’s less for nearby streams and lakes. So how do bottling companies know how much groundwater they can pump before they cause a problem downstream?

This is the debate taking place in Michigan and other states, where bottled water is a growing industry. It’s also a highly profitable industry, since Americans increasingly prefer to purchase their H20 rather than drink it from the tap.

But the world doesn’t have an endless supply of groundwater to be pumped and bottled or used to make soft drinks and beer. Pumping too much decreases water flow and can push temperatures in nearby streams higher if water levels drop. That hurts fish and other aquatic life that need deeper, cooler water in which to live.

Michigan soil is dense with sand and gravel, left behind by the glaciers that created the Great Lakes. That makes it an ideal place for storing rainfall, which is why it’s also a popular place for pumping groundwater. In 2000, Michigan industries, farms and local governments pumped roughly 730 million gallons of water out of the ground. What they need to figure out now is, how much is too much?

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To read more about this and other environmental health issues, go to: www.environmentalhealthnews.org, www.ourstolenfuture.org, or www.healthandenvironment.org