Groundwater Protection - Definitions
Learn more about groundwater terminology by referring to the definitions below. These definitions will help you understand the content of the groundwater web pages.
Groundwater Definitions A through O:
Aquifer: An underground deposit of porous sand, gravel, or fractured rock filled with water and capable of supplying useful quantities of water to a well or spring.
Artesian: This is a well or a spring that bubbles to the surface under immense pressure from underground.
Discharge (outflow): The flow or pumping of water out of an aquifer. Also known as outflow.
Freshwater: Water that contains less than 1000 milligrams per liter of dissolved solids.
Groundwater: Water beneath the land surface in the saturated zone.
Hydrologist: A scientist who studies the properties, distribution, and circulation of water on and below the earth's surface and in the atmosphere.
Hydrogeologist: A scientist who studies the area of geology that deals with the distribution and movement of groundwater in the soil and rocks of the earth's crust.
Infiltration: Movement of water from the land surface into the soil.
Groundwater Definitions P through Z:
Permeability: The capacity of porous rock for transmitting water.
Recharge (inflow): The addition of water to an aquifer. Also known as inflow.
Saturated Zone: Zone below the land surface where all the pores or fractures are filled with water.
Springs: This is groundwater that emerges at the surface from deep underground. Immense pressure combined with the structure of the local geology forces the water to the surface.
Surface Water: Water on the Earth's surface.
Unsaturated Zone: The zone immediately below the land surface where the pores or fractures contain both water and air.
Water Table: The top of the water surface in the saturated zone of an unconfined aquifer.
Wells: Pipes are drilled underground to tap into drinking water aquifers. Electric pumps bring the water to the surface.
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