Groundwater: Making the invisible visible

Did you know that 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater?

You may not think about groundwater every day, but the experts here at Ovivo think about it on a daily basis. In fact, we know groundwater so well that we thought of introducing you to aquifers on this World Water Day. 

Aquifers are geologic formations made of layers of gravel, sand, or fractured rock that filter and store groundwater. These aquifers are replenished naturally through rain, melting snow, rivers, and streams and is a source of drinking water for many people around the world.  

Aquifers are under increasing stress these days due to their rapid depletion rates and contamination from numerous pollution sources, including wastewater.  In some cases, not all groundwater is directly potable and requires treatment before it is safe for human consumption. ‘’We’re talking about compounds like iron and manganese that are dissolved in the groundwater, and that need to be oxidized so that we can filter them out.’’ said Mark Machacek, Product Manager – Water treatment at Ovivo. 

Over 2 billion people worldwide rely on Groundwater 

As groundwater is the largest source of water storage, many municipal drinking water supplies are treated with various technologies, such as our Flexscour® Underdrains, Enviroquip® Folded Plate Filter Underdrain, Castkleen® Underdrains, Scourguard™ Filter Troughs, QuadraKleen® and clearBLOX™ SiC Membranes. 

Other technologies, such as ultraBLOX™ SiC Tertiary Filtration & Reuse and ecoBLOX™ SiC Membrane Bioreactors, are employed to help replenish aquifers. Both technologies use physical barriers to remove solids and pathogens, creating a super clean water that is safe for ASR.   

 ‘’ASR stands for Aquifer Storage and Recovery, or Aquifer Recharge, and requires cleaning wastewater up to a high standard and then injecting it back down into the aquifer.’’ said Mark Machacek. 

Groundwater may be out of sight for many, but it’s never out of mind for our team of experts at Ovivo.  All the water we have is all the water we will have.  It is our responsibility to treat, reuse, and recover it wisely.