New Page 2

Why is Groundwater Important?

To the eye, water is abundant in Portage County. Of the County's half-million acres, 19,000 acres are wetlands and 15,000 acres are covered by the surface water of 104 lakes, 100 trout streams, and the Wisconsin River.^{4,
7}

But many people have not thought about how our actions and land use decisions can affect the water we cannot see--groundwater.

4 Picture Collage of lake, girl drinking from hose, heron, crop irrigation

Groundwater is the life-blood of Portage County! Under our feet, the sand and gravel aquifer covering most of Portage County stores about 7 million acre feet of groundwater and releases about 460 cfs (cubic feet per second) of it to our streams, lakes, rivers, and wetlands.⁴ Groundwater also supplies Portage County with 100% of its drinking and other water resource needs for agricultural, residential, and industrial purposes.^7,
8 All living things in our area depend on groundwater in one way or another. In fact, a family of four uses an average of 255 gallons of groundwater every day!⁸

For a more detailed collage of groundwater uses, click here.

(Italicized words defined in the glossary.)