WHAT IS THE WATER TABLE?

Get to grips with groundwater and discover where it comes from

- SCOTT DUTFIELD

Several metres below our feet is a region of earth called the saturated zone. As the name suggests, every grain of soil and stone is completely saturated with water. Commonly referred to as groundwater, this region of perpetual moisture is topped up through rain and melting ice. As the year cycles through each season, the amount of rain and ice water that seeps through the soil to join the groundwater fluctuates. In late winter and spring, when rainfall is typically the highest and the winter ice has melted, the level of groundwater is at its highest.