Groundwater Resiliency
What is Groundwater Resiliency?
Just like you balance your household budget with income, savings and expenditures, our water budget is a balance of precipitation, storage, evaporation, and discharge. In Anne Arundel County, we currently have a water budget imbalance because our community withdraws water at a rate that exceeds natural recharge. Addressing this water budget imbalance is a priority for groundwater resiliency and protection of our future drinking water supplies that are naturally stored in underground aquifers. We are currently evaluating innovative approaches to:
- Replenish groundwater supplies
- Resist the intrusion of saltwater into local aquifers
- Stem potential land subsidence as the water-bearing clay confining units in our aquifers are dewatered through increased withdrawals
Why is Groundwater Resiliency Important?
As our climate continues to change and regional weather patterns become less predictable and more extreme, we expect new strains to affect the sources of water on which we rely. When water seeps into the ground, it creates a reserve that's less vulnerable to warmer temperatures and drought than surface water in rivers and streams. The County relies on groundwater as its sole source of drinking water supply for both the large regional network and private wells.
How is Anne Arundel County improving Groundwater Resiliency?
Anne Arundel County has a multi-pronged strategy to protect our long-term groundwater supply and resiliency.
Our Wastewater Treatment Enhancements have greatly reduced the amounts of nutrients in our discharged water. We've been over 50% below the required limit since 2018, helping protect the Chesapeake Bay and groundwater beneath us.
The County has also implemented an advanced water treatment research program that will help treat our wastewater effluent to the national drinking water and potable reuse water quality standards, providing us with the ability to perform managed aquifer recharge (MAR) and inject clean water back into our aquifers, which would essentially result in zero surface water discharge of nutrients.
Learn about our Advanced Water Treatment Research ProgramWhat can you do?
There are plenty of ways individuals help protect groundwater through small changes that have a big impact.
Additional resources
Learn more about Our wAAter's Managed Aquifer Recharge and about water conservation:
Improving groundwater resiliency also improves our surface water!
If you would like updates on Our wAAter's groundwater resiliency strategy as it develops