aquifer

noun

aqui·​fer ˈa-kwə-fər 

ˈä-

: a water-bearing stratum of permeable rock, sand, or gravel

aquiferous

a-ˈkwi-fə-rəs 

ä-

adjective

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Aquifer and Agriculture

The vast but relatively shallow Ogallala Aquifer lies beneath the Great Plains, under portions of eight states. Its thickness ranges from a few feet to more than a thousand feet. The Ogallala yields about 30 percent of the nation's groundwater used for irrigation in agriculture, and provides drinking water for most of the people within the area. But for many years more water has been extracted from the Ogallala than has been returned, and the situation today is of great concern.

Examples of aquifer in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In southeastern Arizona, Cochise County is home to a growing dairy industry that is drawing down the aquifer around Willcox. —The Arizona Republic, 29 Mar. 2024

The tanks sit above an aquifer supplying water to 400,000 people in urban Honolulu, including Waikiki and downtown. —CBS News, 28 Mar. 2024

But the state has also been criticized for missing out on opportunities to capture more stormwater and to recharge aquifers that have been drained by agriculture and drought. —Hayley Smith, Los Angeles Times, 23 Mar. 2024

Critics worry that the new plants could exacerbate the growing climate crisis, spoil the environment with chemicals, and suck aquifers dry. —Michal Lev-Ram, Fortune, 29 Jan. 2024

California’s underground aquifers can hold vastly more water than its reservoirs, between 850 million and 1.3 billion acre-feet of capacity below ground compared to about 38.1 million acre-feet above ground, according to the Department of Water Resources. —Hanna Kang, Orange County Register, 20 Jan. 2024

There is currently no way for the city to recycle wastewater or collect rainwater to replenish the aquifer. —USA TODAY, 6 Mar. 2024

California is considering penalizing local officials for draining their aquifers. —Christopher Flavelle, New York Times, 29 Feb. 2024

As floodwaters soak into the soil and replenish the aquifer, this gives a boost to the local water supply. —Ian James, Los Angeles Times, 20 Feb. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French aquifère "water-bearing," from aqui- (from Latin aqua "water" + -i- -i-) + -fère "bearing" — more at aqua, -fer

Note: The term was introduced into English by the geologist William Harmon Norton (1856-1944) in "Artesian Wells of Iowa," Iowa Geological Survey, vol. 6, Report on Lead, Zinc, Artesian Wells, etc. (Des Moines, 1897), p. 130: "The sand represents the permeable water-bearing layer, the aquifer, to revive a term of Arago's, and its outcrop between the basin rims the area of supply." "Arago" is the French physicist François Arago (1786-1853), whose essay "Sur les puits forés, connus sous le nom de puits artésiens, des fontaines artésiennes, ou de fontaines jaillissants" (Bureau des Longitudes, Annuaire pour l'an 1835 [Paris, 1834], pp. 181-258), is cited earlier in Norton's paper. As noted by Alfred Clebsch ("Analysis and Critique of 'Aquifers, Ground-Water Bodies, and Hydrophers' by C.V. Theis," Selected Contributions to Ground-Water Hydrology by C.V. Theis, and a Review of His Life and Work [U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 2415] [Denver, 1994], pp. 39-43), Norton is not strictly speaking "reviving" anything used by Arago, who only uses aquifère as an adjective in the collocations nappe aquifère and couche aquifère (both meaning approximately "water-bearing layer"). Note that in an English translation of Arago's article ("On Springs, Artesian Wells, and Spouting Fountains," Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, vol. 18, no. 36 [April, 1835]) there is no direct equivalent of aquifère, as couches aquifères is rendered by "water bearing beds" and nappe aquifère as simply "water."

First Known Use

1897, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

aquifer

noun

aqui·​fer ˈak-wə-fər 

ˈäk-

: a water-bearing layer of rock, sand, or gravel capable of absorbing water

aquiferous

a-ˈkwif-ə-rəs 

ä-

adjective