Innovative Methods For Locating High-Yield Water Supply Wells -- Part I
Growing with the world's population is the demand for increased development of water resources.
The world population is growing geometrically, projected to reach 8 - 11 billion people by 2050. Even in North America, where population growth rates are considerably lower than most of the world, the 1999 population estimate of 303 million is expected to grow to 374 million by 2050. Growing with population is the demand for increased development of water resources. Groundwater resources figure prominently throughout North America for private and public drinking water supply, irrigation, manufacturing, and mining. The United States uses approximately 76.4 billion gallons of groundwater per day for these purposes. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) estimates that in 1995 38 percent of the water supplied by municipal water departments in the US came from groundwater sources. Groundwater supplies served more than 97 percent of the rural population with its drinking water.
In Canada the numbers are somewhat lower, where in 1981 approximately 11 percent of municipal water was supplied by groundwater and approximately 82 percent of rural water supplies came from groundwater. This is probably due to abundance of surface water sources in Canada. Groundwater usage is expected to increase during this century as need for water increases and available sites for surface reservoirs decrease.