Underground Water

The rain water and the water from melted ice that reaches under the surface of the earth through pores and cracks are called underground water. Some underground water may originate from the steam rising from molten rock materials deep within the earth. Erosive action of water on limestone rocks turns their pores into such big sink holes that even a river if that is drained into them would disappear. Fell Bank River in Yorkshire sank into a 111- meter deep hole.

            Springs and artesian wells owe their existence to the flow of underground water. Artesian wells are of great economic importance in the mountain ringed basins in the semi-arid climatic regions of the world. There exist more than 18 thousand artesian wells in the world’s largest artesian basin in Australian. Artesian wells have been sunk in the Terai region of India for irrigation and supply of drinking water. The underground water is very useful in our daily lives. It not only provides us the drinking water but also a valuable source of water for irrigation purposes.