What is an Aquifer? An aquifer is a body of saturated rock through which water can easily move.

Aquifers must be both permeable and porous and include such rock types as sandstone, conglomerate, fractured limestone and unconsolidated sand and gravel. Fractured volcanic rocks such as columnar basalts also make good aquifers. The rubble zones between volcanic flows are generally both porous and permeable and make excellent aquifers. n order for a well to be productive, it must be drilled into an aquifer. !ocks such as granite and schist are generally poor aquifers because they have a very low porosity. "owever, if these rocks are highly fractured, they make good aquifers. A well is a hole drilled into the ground to penetrate an aquifer. #ormally such water must be pumped to the surface. f water is pumped from a well faster than it is replenished, the water table is lowered and the well may go dry. $hen water is pumped from a well, the water table is generally lowered into a cone of depression at the well. %roundwater normally flows down the slope of the water table towards the well.
&ne of daho's ma(or aquifers is the )nake !iver *lain Aquifer. +lick here to read more information about it. Is an Aquifer an Underground River? #o. Almost all aquifers are not rivers. )ince water moves slowly through pore spaces in an aquifer's rock or sediment, the only life,forms that could en(oy floating such a 'river' would be bacteria or viruses which are small enough to fit through the pore spaces. True underground rivers are found only in cavernous rock formations where the rock surrounding cracks or fractures has been dissolved away to leave open channels through which water can move very rapidly, like a river. %round water has to squeeze through pore spaces of rock and sediment to move through an aquifer -the porosity of such aquifers make them good filters for natural purification. .ecause it takes effort to force water through tiny pores, ground water loses energy as it flows, leading to a decrease in hydraulic head in the direction of flow. /arger pore spaces usually have higher permeability, produce less energy loss, and therefore allow water to move more rapidly. For this reason, ground water can move rapidly over large distances in aquifers whose pore spaces are large -like the lower *ortneuf !iver aquifer0 or where porosity arises from interconnected fractures. %round water moves very rapidly in fractured rock aquifers like the basalts of the eastern )nake !iver *lain. n such cases, the spread of contaminants can be difficult or impossible to prevent. What does an aquifer look like? 1very aquifer is unique, although some are more generic than others. The boundaries of an aquifer are usually gradational into other aquifers, so that an aquifer can be part of an aquifer system. The top of an unconfined aquifer is the water table. A confined aquifer has at least one aquitard at its top and, if it is stacked with others, an aquitard at its base.

Figure 2 shows an example of an aquifer system in the lower *ortneuf !iver valley. The diagram represents a cut,away perspective view of this system of multiple aquifers and is greatly exaggerated in its vertical scale to show some of the details. )everal different aquifers occur in this valley. n the northern valley -beneath +hubbuck and north *ocatello0 multiple confined aquifers are stacked on top of one another and separated by aquitards made of clay3 the aquifers tapped by figure 1. Click on image for larger view. +hubbuck's municipal wells are in the fractured basalts of the eastern )nake !iver *lain. n the southern valley -*ortneuf %ap to !ed "ill0 the upper surface of the unconfined aquifer is the water table. How Does an Aquifer Work? An aquifer is filled with moving water and the amount of water in storage in the aquifer can vary from season to season and year to year. %round water may flow through an aquifer at a rate of 45 feet per year or 45 inches per century, depending on the permeability. .ut no matter how fast or slow, water will eventually discharge or leave an aquifer and must be replaced by new water to

figure 2. Click on image for larger view.

replenish or recharge the aquifer. Thus, every aquifer has a recharge zone or zones and a discharge zone or zones. Figure 6 is a simple cartoon showing three different types of aquifers7 confined, unconfined, and perched. !echarge zones are typically at higher altitudes but can occur wherever water enters an aquifer, such as from rain, snowmelt, river and reservoir leakage, or from irrigation. 8ischarge zones can occur anywhere3 in the diagram, discharge occurs not only in springs near the stream and in wetlands at low altitude, and also from wells and high,altitude springs. The amount of water in storage in an aquifer is reflected in the elevation of its water table. f the rate of recharge is less than the natural discharge rate plus well production, the water table will decline and the aquifer's storage will decrease. A perched aquifer's water table is usually highly sensitive to the amount of seasonal recharge so a perched aquifer typically can go dry in summers or during drought years. Why is Groundwater So Clean? Aquifers are natural filters that trap sediment and other particles -like bacteria0 and provide natural purification of the ground water flowing through them.

/ike a coffee filter, the pore spaces in an aquifer's rock or sediment purify ground water of particulate matter -the 'coffee grounds'0 but not of dissolved substances -the 'coffee'0. Also, like any filter, if the pore sizes are too large, particles like bacteria can get through. This can be a problem in aquifers in fractured rock -like the )nake !iver *lain, or areas outside the sediment, filled valleys of southeast daho0. +lay particles and other mineral surfaces in an aquifer also can trap dissolved substances or at least slow them down so they don't move as fast as water percolating through the aquifer. #atural filtration in soils is very important in recharge areas and in irrigated areas above unconfined aquifers, where water applied at the surface can percolate through the soil to the water table. For example, in the lower *ortneuf !iver valley -Figure 20, a protective layer of silt in the southern valley provides natural protection to the aquifer from septic systems, pesticide application, and accidental chemical spills. 8espite natural purification, concentrations of some elements in ground water can be high in instances where the rocks and minerals of an aquifer contribute high concentrations of certain elements. n some cases, such as iron staining, health impacts due to high concentrations of dissolved iron are not a problem as much as the aesthetic quality of the drinking water supply. n other cases, where elements such as fluoride, uranium, or arsenic occur naturally in high concentrations, human health may be affected. How is an Aquifer Conta inated?

As shown in Figure 9, an aquifer can be contaminated by many things we do at and near the surface of the earth. +ontaminants reach the water table by any natural or manmade pathway along which water can flow from the surface to the aquifer. 8eliberate disposal of waste at point sources such as landfills, septic tanks, in(ection wells and storm drain wells can have an impact on the quality of ground water in an aquifer. n general, any activity which creates a pathway that speeds the rate at which water can move from the surface to the water table has an impact. n Figure 9, waste water leaking down the casing of a poorly constructed well bypasses the natural purification afforded by soil. 1xcessive addition of fertilizer, agrichemicals, and road de,icing chemicals over broad areas, coupled with the enhanced recharge from crops, golf courses and other irrigated land and figure 3. Click on image for larger view. along road ditches, are common reasons for contamination arising from non,point sources. !emoval of soil in excavations and mining reduces the purification potential and also enhances recharge3 in some cases, such as the "ighway *ond gravel pits south of *ocatello, the water table is exposed and becomes directly vulnerable to the entry of contaminants.

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