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. In order for a well to be productive, it must be drilled into an aquifer. Rocks
such as granite and schist are generally poor aquifers because they have a very low
porosity. However, if these rocks are highly fractured, they make good aquifers. A
well is a hole drilled into the ground to penetrate an aquifer. Normally such water
must be pumped to the surface. If water is pumped from a well faster than it is
replenished, the water table is lowered and the well may go dry. When water is
pumped from a well, the water table is generally lowered into a cone of depression at
the well. Groundwater normally flows down the slope of the water table towards the
well.

One of Idaho's major aquifers is the Snake River Plain Aquifer. Click here to read more
information about it.

Is an Aquifer an Underground River?

No. Almost all aquifers are not rivers. Since water moves slowly through pore spaces in an
aquifer's rock or sediment, the only life-forms that could enjoy 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.

Ground 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. Because 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. Larger 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 Portneuf River aquifer) or where porosity arises from interconnected
fractures. Ground water moves very rapidly in fractured rock aquifers like the basalts of the
eastern Snake River Plain. In such cases, the spread of contaminants can be difficult or
impossible to prevent.

What does an aquifer look like?

Every 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 1 shows an example of an aquifer system in the lower
Portneuf River 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. Several different aquifers occur in this valley. In the
northern valley (beneath Chubbuck and north Pocatello)
multiple confined aquifers are stacked on top of one another and
separated by aquitards made of clay; the aquifers tapped by figure 1. Click on image for larger view.
Chubbuck's municipal wells are in the fractured basalts of the
eastern Snake River Plain. In the southern valley (Portneuf Gap to Red Hill) 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. Ground water may flow through an aquifer at a rate of 50
feet per year or 50 inches per century, depending on the permeability. But no matter how fast or
slow, water will eventually discharge or leave an aquifer and must be replaced by new water to
replenish or recharge the aquifer. Thus, every aquifer has a recharge zone or zones and a
discharge zone or zones.

Figure 2 is a simple cartoon showing three different types of

aquifers: confined, unconfined, and perched. Recharge 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. Discharge zones can occur
anywhere; 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.
figure 2. Click on image for larger view.
The amount of water in storage in an aquifer is reflected in the
elevation of its water table. If 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 bacteria) and provide
natural purification of the ground water flowing through them.

Like a coffee filter, the pore spaces in an aquifer's rock or sediment purify ground water of
particulate matter (the 'coffee grounds') but not of dissolved substances (the 'coffee'). 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 Snake River Plain, or areas outside the sediment-
filled valleys of southeast Idaho).
Clay 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.

Natural 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 Portneuf River valley (Figure 1), a protective layer of silt
in the southern valley provides natural protection to the aquifer from septic systems, pesticide
application, and accidental chemical spills.

Despite 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. In 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. In
other cases, where elements such as fluoride, uranium, or arsenic occur naturally in high
concentrations, human health may be affected.

How is an Aquifer Contaminated?

As shown in Figure 3, an aquifer can be contaminated by many things we do at and
near the surface of the earth. Contaminants reach the water table by any natural or
manmade pathway along which water can flow from the surface to the aquifer.

Deliberate disposal of waste at point sources such as landfills, septic tanks, injection
wells and storm drain wells can have an impact on the quality of ground water in an
aquifer.

In 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. In Figure 3, waste water
leaking down the casing of a poorly constructed well
bypasses the natural purification afforded by soil.
Excessive addition of fertilizer, agrichemicals, and road
figure 3. Click on image for larger view.
de-icing chemicals over broad areas, coupled with the
enhanced recharge from crops, golf courses and other irrigated land and along road
ditches, are common reasons for contamination arising from non-point sources.
Removal of soil in excavations and mining reduces the purification potential and also
enhances recharge; in some cases, such as the Highway Pond gravel pits south of
Pocatello, the water table is exposed and becomes directly vulnerable to the entry of
contaminants.