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Central Florida's water demand; drilling to Upper and Lower aquifer levels

By Irene Sans, WFTV.com
By Irene Sans, WFTV.com
As Central Florida’s population continues to grow, so does the demand for water. But where does all this water come from?
Florida’s aquifer spans an area of about 100,000 square miles across much of the southeastern U.S. and it is one of the most productive aquifers in the world, providing drinking water to 10 million people.
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The aquifer system has an Upper and Lower level. Wells extend down to 300 feet to get water from the Upper Floridian aquifer. This is where we get most of our drinking water from, but drilling to this level can cause a problem to our wetlands. Penetrating to a Lower level aquifer can lessen and alleviate impacts to the wetlands.
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A new pair of wells east of Clermont probes into the deeper aquifer, more than 900 feet! Drilling to such deep levels shows rock layers dating back 30 to 50 million years.
The Lower Floridan aquifer has highly mineralized water overall, but over Central Florida, the Lower aquifer contains freshwater. It can also promote the movement of freshwater from other, deeper parts of the aquifer systems to discharge areas.

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