Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection

DEEP headquarters at 79 Elm Street in Hartford is currently closed due to recent water damage impacting multiple areas of the building. We are working to remediate the situation and get the building back open to staff and the public as soon as possible. While the building is closed, Staff continue to work either remotely or in alternate locations. We continue to be able to receive documents via U.S. Mail or courier service, and our electronic file submittal protocols remain unchanged. For updates, please click here

Understanding Groundwater - Protecting a Natural Resource

Please take out a pencil and a sheet of paper, and list the different ways you use water in a normal week.

Your responses may range from preparing that life-nourishing morning pot of coffee to sprinkling the front lawn at night.  Indeed, water is, to quote a commercial’s tag line, “everywhere you want to be.” 

But where exactly does all that water come from?  Like most of us, you might be hard pressed to come up with good answers.

These pages provide some simple, clear answer about water, where it come from, and the common sense steps everyone can take to help ensure that it remains safe for use by all living creatures.

It is, though, mainly about groundwater, a large source for water of families worldwide. A quick fact: 98 percent of the worlds’ fresh water, excluding polar ice caps, is groundwater.

These pages explain the direct links between groundwater and surface waters - wetlands, streams, ponds, oceans - and its connection to all life, including us bath-taking, clothes-washing, snow-shoveling, toilet-flushing, water-skiing, pasta-cooking, soda-drinking…humans.  The better we understand these links and connections, the better we will husband this valuable natural resource.