Water goes into the ground
Infiltration: surface water seeps down.
Wells and handpumps
People draw water from wells and handpumps. This water was not made there. It came from the rain, down through the ground.
How does the rain water get under the ground?
What this lesson covers
The idea
Infiltration is the process of surface water seeping through soil and rocks beneath the surface of the Earth.
Wells and handpumps
People draw water from wells and handpumps. This water was not made there. It came from the rain, down through the ground.
How does the rain water get under the ground?
- It seeps down through the spaces between soil and rock particles
- It is dug in by people
- It falls from the roots of trees
Pour water
Press Pour water and watch the puddle and the spaces between the particles.
Down through the gaps
The puddle got smaller as the water went down through the spaces between the particles. This is called infiltration.
Infiltration is the process of surface water seeping through soil and rocks beneath the surface of the Earth.
Notes
Infiltration is the process of surface water seeping through soil and rocks beneath the surface of the Earth.
Check yourself
What is infiltration?
Where does the water go in infiltration?
Rainwater that falls on the ground can …
The water drawn from wells and handpumps is water that has …
- Water evaporating into the air. That is evaporation. Infiltration goes down, into the ground.
- Rain falling from clouds. That is precipitation. Infiltration begins after the water reaches the ground.
- Surface water seeping through soil and rocks beneath the surface — correct. Yes!
- Down into the spaces between soil and rock particles — correct. Yes!
- Up into the clouds. Water going up is evaporation.
- Into the particles, turning them into water. The water goes into the spaces between the particles. It does not change them.
- only flow into rivers. Some also seeps into the ground. That is infiltration.
- flow into rivers and seas, or seep into the ground — correct. Yes!
- only vanish. Water does not vanish. It flows over the surface or seeps down.
- fallen from a pipe in the sky. Well water seeped into the ground through infiltration.
- been made by the pump. A pump does not make water. It lifts the water that seeped into the ground.
- seeped into the ground — correct. Yes!