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A Winter Wonderland
By Producer, Kelly Meinhart
 he
long days of winter have been playing a tough game with Commonwealth
residents this year, and as is often the case, it seems like our lack
of snow last year is being made up for this year. What do the fluctuations
in the amounts of snowfall mean to our water resources?
 t
means quite a bit actually. The snow we receive during the winter
months acts as a recharge of our valuable ground water resources.
Our underground aquifers, or natural storage tanks if you will, are
responsible for providing a vast majority of Pennsylvania's residents
with their drinking water — via underground well systems. These systems
connect directly to the underground aquifers, and provide a seemingly
endless supply of water for our daily needs.
[
A Winter Wonderland Photo Gallery 1 ]
t's
only during times of drought that we actually stop to consider where
our water comes from, and otherwise it's often taken for granted that
it will be available in an endless supply. However, the past few summers
have taught us a lesson. Water certainly isn't an endless resource,
and every-day conservation efforts to reduce your water intake really
do make a difference.
he
drought of the past summer seems like a distant memory for some, and
at this point our winter has been supplying us with enough precipitation
to remove the drought restrictions and warnings, but the threat is
always there for us.
[ A Winter Wonderland Photo Gallery 2 ]
n
this month's "In the Flow" feature, submitted by Shannon Cason, she
reviews a document that is vital for everyone to read, it's called
"Paving Our Way to Water Shortages: How Sprawl Aggravates the Effects
of Drought" released by American Rivers, the National Resources Defense
Council and Smart Growth America, it provides much-needed information
on water supplies.
he
report investigates how our lifestyles and our sprawling suburbs affect
water resources. The connection between sprawl and water shortages
may not seem evident at first thought, but it's really just common
sense. If you pave everything over, the water or snow we receive can't
make its way back into the ground. It's that simple. Instead, it runs
off into streams and rivers, cause flooding, and other 'natural' disasters.
It is far past due for us to take a hard look at our land development
and find better ways, through conservation efforts, to protect not
only our beautiful landscapes, but our water resources as well.
 o
the next time you get stranded in by several inches of snow, you may
want to consider being thankful, for that snow will quite possibly
be saving us from a drought the following summer, and keep our wells
from going dry.
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See past topics of Between Cattails here!
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