Foreword
Half of the global population uses groundwater for part or all of their drinking water and, in many regions, agriculture is dependent on groundwater. Although nearly all wells are located on private property, the extracted groundwater is a public resource because groundwater is not influenced by property boundaries. When information about wells and the geology they encounter is publicly available as a well record database, the groundwater resource can be managed and protected for the benefit of all. Sometimes, the databases are used to construct sophisticated computer models of aquifer systems that supply water to millions of people in order to properly manage the groundwater resource.
In developed countries with substantial groundwater use, government organizations are responsible for maintaining and disseminating the well record database. In many areas, most of the knowledge about groundwater and geology is derived from the information recorded by water well drillers. Typically, drillers record the data on a paper form and many jurisdictions require that these forms be submitted to the government for inclusion in the database. Onsite inspections are rare, thus the quality and availability of well records depends on drillers contributing their time and effort for the public good. The design of well record forms needs to balance the collection of valuable information with what is reasonable for drillers to record while operating a drill rig, often in difficult weather and in challenging terrain conditions.
This book summarizes the nature and state of well databases with emphasis on Canada and the USA. Well records in these countries are the responsibility of provinces in Canada and states in the USA and hence there are dozens of databases with differing content and format. Some jurisdictions initiated their databases many decades ago and others only recently. Some have only paper records available, which are not easy to access, while others have electronic records readily available to the public. Today, there is widespread recognition that reliable and readily available electronic records are important to the development, management, and protection of groundwater but many jurisdictions are lagging behind. There is room for improvement. Even leading jurisdictions do not yet have database systems that meet the criteria proposed in this book which are ideal for serving the needs of well drillers, well owners, environmental consultants, water managers, researchers, educators, and the community as a whole. The author of this book, Gavin Kennedy, is a senior hydrogeologist with the Geological Survey of Nova Scotia, Canada, a province where over 40 percent of the population is served by domestic wells, and over 50 percent of the population relies on groundwater for their source of drinking water. Nova Scotia’s well database was started 55 years ago and is continually being improved. The Groundwater Project book, Domestic Wells: Introduction and Overview by John Drage, is a companion to this book about well record databases.
John Cherry, The Groundwater Project Leader
Guelph, Ontario, Canada, January 2022