Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Technology => Topic started by: Henry Risha on 27/09/2011 10:30:03

Title: How can we locate water underground?
Post by: Henry Risha on 27/09/2011 10:30:03

Henry Risha  asked the Naked Scientists:
   
Hi Chris,

How may we locate underground water from the earth's surface?
Or, from space?
 
Best regards,
 
Henry.

What do you think?

Title: How can we locate water underground?
Post by: CliffordK on 29/09/2011 17:35:04

In many regions of the USA, and around the world, underground water is more or less everywhere.  All you need to do is sink a well down to the "Water Table" which might vary in depth depending on the region and whether you are on a hillside.

This is one of the reasons that Water Witching (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowsing) may be effective.  No matter where one chooses to dig the well, it is likely to produce water.  And, as mentioned in the Wikipedia article, on may naturally select low elevation locations or other locations that might be expected to produce more water.

Certainly not all wells are the same, but it may be cheapest to dig most wells blindly. 

This may not always be true in arid regions.  I believe there was a program in the USA a couple of decades ago to use some kind of truck based sonar to map out underground rock features in search for oil.  I presume the same technology could be used looking for water.