Groundwater

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Learn about me - your drinking water. Learn about where I live, how I get to your tap and what you can do to help keep me healthy.

Latest blog posts:

• What to do with your leftover salt at the end of the season
• Five questions you should ask yourself before salting
• How to green your snow and ice clearing
• No RSVP required. Your exclusive tour of groundwater's home.
• What you need to know before purchasing winter salt or ice melter
• The hidden costs of winter salt and ice melter
• Six mistruths about winter salt
• Nine actions you can take as a water protector
• How the heck do you even get groundwater
• Four cool facts about groundwater
• Water: it's what connects us

Help keep water clean:

• limit use of winter salt and ice melter
• set your water softener to the correct water hardness to reduce salt use
• return unused medication to your local pharmacy
• report chemical spills
• only allow rain down the storm drain
• visit the Region of Waterloo Protecting Water web page for more ideas

Reduce your water use:

• take shorter showers
• fix leaks in toilets and other home appliances
• use a rain barrel for outdoor watering
• visit the Region of Waterloo Conserving Water web page for more ideas

Help educate future water protectors:

• support water education
• teachers can book a water presentation for your elementary class

You can find me under the ground where I live in an aquifer. An aquifer is the layers of sand grains, rocks and gravel found underground. I am the rain and melted snow that soaks into the ground to fill the spaces between the sand grains, rock and gravel.

My journey to your home starts at a well. Think of wells like big drinking straws.

1. A deep hole is drilled.
2. A metal pipe (well) is placed into the hole.
3. At the bottom of the pipe are slits that allow me (groundwater) to enter the pipe.
4. A pump moves me up the pipe to where I am treated before travelling through underground pipes to your home.

The Region of Waterloo manages over 120 wells throughout Waterloo Region that extract and supply groundwater to homes and businesses. An additional 400+ wells monitor the health of groundwater.

Through water protection programs, the Region of Waterloo is:

• monitoring water quality of drinking water sources
• supporting youth education through the Be Good To Your Water water education program and the Waterloo Wellington Children's Groundwater Festival
• working with businesses to improve best practices to protect water quality through Source Water Protection Plan policies

• water education resources for teachers
• make an ice cream aquifer
• water fun activity sheet
• aquifer in a cup