WET 201 - Groundwater Information Network

Statistics Canada. (2010). Survey of drinking water plants and households and the Environment Survey, special tabulation. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/16-201-x/2010000/m016-eng.htm

In 2023, one-third of the World's population depended on groundwater for their survival - that's 2,681,770,482 souls. 

Groundwater provides drinking water to about one-third of all Canadians (13,509,465). Eighty percent of Canada's rural population depends on groundwater as the source of their drinking water.

Aquifers (stores of groundwater) are under threat and vulnerable to overpumping, climate change, and contamination. Remediation of damaged aquifers is a complex, costly, challenging, and often impossible undertaking. 

In Canada, groundwater is plentiful. However, our awareness of the importance of properly managing this natural resource has been limited. 

Overpumping of groundwater has led to negative effects on water users and ecosystems that depend on groundwater - this includes impacts on our lakes, rivers, streams, and wetlands which are fed by groundwater, especially during dry periods (drought). 

Groundwater also is an essential resource for temperature-sensitive ecosystems such as fish spawning and nurturing habits such as fish hatcheries that require plentiful, cool water supplied at a consistent temperature. 

Aquifer contamination also poses a significant risk to groundwater reserves. When precipitation carries contaminants into underground aquifers, it can lead to situations that can make the water unfit for human use. Examples of such situations include Walkerton Ontario and Hullcar, BC. 

Understanding how groundwater moves through the ground is essential to managing its availability, and identifying how contaminants pollute aquifers. In many cases, contamination of an aquifer is the result of poor land management practices, faulty infrastructure, or incorrect operating procedures and practices. 

One of the most important aspects of protecting and managing groundwater is through the gathering and dissemination of authoritative groundwater-related information. This requirement led to the development of the Groundwater Information Network (GIN).