Well Head Protection
Safe Drinking Water...It's Everyone's Business!
Our drinking water comes from the ground...
You might assume the Kalkaska area draws its water supply from nearby lakes and rivers, but our source is actually "groundwater." We all play a role in keeping it drinkable.
All our water is interconnected...
Groundwater and surface water are interconnected. Polluted surface water (rivers, lakes, springs, wetlands) can contaminate groundwater - and vice versa. Groundwater contamination can occur when percolating rain and snow water carry pollutants in the aquifer.
Water Quality is good...
The Kalkaska area and many other communities in the United States enjoy the best supplies of drinking water in the world. More than half of all Americans receive their drinking water from groundwater. Yet according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, threats to drinking water quality are on the rise.
Aquifer is water source for our community...
Groundwater begins as precipitation in the form of snow and rain, which percolates down through the soil into aquifers. Aquifers are underground rock, clay, sand and gravel materials that store water. Groundwater is pumped from ells that are drilled into aquifers.
Groundwater cycles from surface to air...
You last drink of water could have once been used by a dinosaur! Our water has been here for millions of years - there's never any new water, only recycled water. The water cycle moves water from the ground to the air to the ground again. It evaporates, travels into the air and becomes part of a cloud, falls down to earth as precipitation and begins the never ending ground to air cycle again.
Alliance works to keep the quality...
The Kalkaska Wellhead Protection Team was created to protect and preserve our drinking water at its source. This team along with other communities and state and federal agencies works to maintain high standards of water quality and to educate residents and businesses about water protection.
We are all responsible for drinking water quality!