As I prepare this column, it is a beautiful spring day. The sun is shining and not a cloud in the sky. Just a few days ago, it was miserable. It was cold, rainy, and windy.

As we tolerated the rain and saw television news reports of flooding in our region, I heard comments from several people about how tired they were of the rainy weather. Most of them wanted it to stop raining.

It appears that most of these people are not aware of how low our groundwater supplies are. Since the massive flooding created by Hurricane Floyd almost two years ago, we have received less than normal amounts of rainfall virtually every month. As a result, our farmers do not have a large amount of groundwater available for the upcoming growing season. Just consider how low the level of the Lumber River was several days ago before the rains or consider the recent level of many of our farm ponds.

This newspaper now contains detailed weather information daily. As can be seen from their tables in the Accu Weather section, even after the recent heavy rains, our rainfall so far this year is more than four inches below normal.

When considering our groundwater, there are three major factors that are important for all of us. What is the availability of groundwater for crop production? What is the availability and quality of water in our deep aquifers for human and industrial use? And what is the availability and quality of groundwater in private wells for human consumption?

For the first issue, the only thing we can do is hope we have an adequate amount of rainfall throughout the growing season. There is not a lot we can do to make it rain, but we do need regular showers since we don't have a lot of reserves.

What would you do if you turned on the water faucet in your kitchen or in your shower and no water came out? If you live in town and receive water from the city or if you live in the county and are connected to the county water system, you would probably call someone to find out why. If you were using water from your private well, you probably would become frustrated about having to fix the water pump.

What if you found out your pump was operating properly, but the water level in the well had fallen too low? If this was the problem, your only option may be to drill a deeper well -- an option that is going to be expensive. What if the person you contact to drill a deeper well told you that the water was so deep in the ground that it was going to cost a small fortune to drill deep enough to reach water?

This may happen in the future. As our population grows and as industry keeps developing and expanding in our region, we continue to draw more and more water from our deep aquifers. Because of this, the level of water in these aquifers keeps falling lower and lower. Will we see the day when the water level in these aquifers is so low we cannot drill wells deep enough to reach them? If we do drill wells deep enough to reach the water, these aquifers may not recharge fast enough to provide the water we need.

Those people in the county who are still using private wells for their drinking water may one day face the problem of not being able to afford a well deep enough to reach the water. In the meantime, many of them still rely on rather shallow wells, so their primary concern should be the quality of the water in their wells. Is their water safe to drink?

During May the Robeson County Center of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service will provide the opportunity for private well owners to have their water tested, at no cost, for nitrates, ammonia, and bacteria. More detailed information about this service will be provided later through this column and in other announcements, so please watch for them.

We have all heard the phrase "water is our most precious resource." As long as we have an ample supply of good, clean water, we may not pay much attention to just how precious this resource is to us. What if we did not have enough water? It's a scary thought, isn't it?

E-mail address: Everett_Davis@ncsu.edu

Mailing Address:
P. O. Box 2280
Lumberton, NC 28359-2280

Phone: 910-671-3276
Fax: 910-671-6278

Date Created 09/07/01