Water Cycle
Islanders get drinking water from groundwater, either from a private well or a municipal well. Groundwater is our sole source of drinking water. As Islanders, it is our job to use it wisely and keep it safe.
Water brings life to our planet. It is essential to all life and to all ecosystems. Water is always moving and changing form. It falls to the earth, flows across and under the earth as groundwater or surface water, and then rises again into the air. As it moves, it changes form – from vapour, to liquid, to solid and back again. This continuous movement and change is called the “hydrologic cycle”.
The source of PEI's groundwater
Beneath PEI, the soil is a thick fractured formation of sandstone bedrock that was formed 220 to 300 million years ago. Water seeps down through the soil and fractured bedrock and recharges the groundwater supply. The result in an immense reservoir of fresh, clean ground water.
PEI's water use is less than 2% of the recharge rate
If we stacked the annual amount of groundwater recharging the system for a year on a soccer field, it would be 300 kilometres high.
Annual water usage stacked on the same soccer field would be 4 kilometres high.