With more than 30 years’ experience in the residential and commercial water treatment industry, Mark Nelson is a Class 1 Drinking-Water Operator and a CBWA (Canadian Bottled Water Association) Certified Plant Operator. As founder and president of Nelson Water in Ottawa, Mark focuses on dealing with challenging water treatment system designs for problem water. He also heads the largest water bottling plant in the city of Ottawa with a delivery network throughout the Valley.

Most of us in the greater Ontario region have heard the term “ground water,” especially in the context of TV nature documentaries as well as news or environmental pieces dealing with man-made pollution problems.  This said, for the most part, the majority of us aren’t really clear on what ground water exactly is and why it is important to our overall eco-system. This article aims to provide you with some clarity so you can recognize the importance of protected ground water to ensure that your home is safe from contamination.

Ground Water, so What is it?

Ground water is the term used for any water found beneath the surface of the earth. If you had X-Ray vision and could look into the ground right under where you are standing, you would see a layered structure. While we are all aware of the top layer of dirt covering our planet, as we dig deeper you would see layer, upon layer of rock. While this rock is often solid, inside each of these layers, there are small cracks and spaces which are filled with water, almost like a porous sponge. Ground water basically travels slowly under the surface of the earth between each of these small spaces and crevices like coffee percolates through your drip coffee maker filter.

Why is Ground Water so Important?

Ground water is considered to be an essential water source for the planet. We use tens of million of liters of this ground water every day extracted from wells for food production, watering crops, washing clothes and even drinking water here in Canada alone. Approximately, half of the population in fact relies on ground water as their source of drinking water.

How Clean is Ground Water?

It varies.  The quality of ground water can depend on a number of factors. Some regions in Canada have overall very good quality water, but some areas have suffered from polluted or contaminated ground water. Commonly cited pollutants include nitrates and manufactured compounds such as gasoline, benzene and other chemicals.

There have been a number of reports of gasoline and fuel contamination from fracking (hydraulic fracturing) as an example, which have been caused by leaks in buried storage tanks like you would find at gas stations or even in backyards for oil storage for winter heating systems. Other possible pollution sources are leaky landfills and leaks in septic systems.

The contamination of ground water can also be linked to above ground, surface incidents. As an example, if a wastewater treatment pond has not been properly engineered, installed or maintained, it has the very real potential to trickle polluted water into the ground beneath it.  Moreover, spilled chemicals, agricultural runoff and nutrients or bacteria from livestock areas can also seep into the ground water, and they indeed often do.

The truth is that the real impact of small leaks that allow the gradual spread of pollutants over a large area means that tracing and controlling such potential contamination can be especially difficult.

So How Can You Protect Your Ground Water?

The best way to protect your ground water is to become well informed. Environment and Climate Change Canada has a number of comprehensive resources regarding drinking water and ground water. You will also need to assess whether your drinking water is sourced from ground water and how often it is tested.  If you are relying on well water, you are using ground water.  If chemicals are used in and around your property, such as lawn chemicals, fertilizers and cleaning products which could all pollute your ground water (if improperly disposed of) you need to be vigilant and proactive about it.  Once you have assessed these risks, you may wish to not only consider more environmentally friendly products and making conscious choices about any chemicals in and around your property, but opt for final barrier protection in your home such relatively inexpensive under counter reverse osmosis drinking water systems or more comprehensive whole home R.O. and filtering systems. These will ensure that all the water coming into your household, regardless of the source, has been properly filtered of any and harmful contaminants.