About two thirds of Vermonters get their water from wells that draw on groundwater. And while the water in this state is by and large remarkably clean, there are contaminants. Nitrate from farms and sodium chloride from road salting can make its way into groundwater. A gasoline additive called MTBE that was used to a limited extent in Vermont has been found in wells in the past.
And there are naturally occurring toxins as well: most commonly arsenic or radioactivity from radium radon and uranium.
VPR’s Jane Lindholm talks with Vermont State geologist Larry Becker, and Middlebury College Geology Professor Peter Ryan Vermont’s groundwater resources – how our geology shapes our water usage, what toxins, both naturally occurring and artificial, threaten our groundwater, and how our water table changes.