10 GEOSCIENCE AND CANADA UNDERST ANDING OUR EARTH THE VIT AL ROLE OF CANADAS GEOSCIE NTISTS DI D Y OU KNO W that the oldest water on Earth was found in a Canadian mine Geoscientists drilling into rock at a depth of between 24 and 29 kilometres in the Kidd Creek copperzinc mine in Timmins Ontario discovered water 1 0 times s altier than seawater fo wing through the ancient rock The water is between 1 1 and 1 6 billion years old 2 and has been trapped in the rocks for eons isolated from the sur face This water provides a time capsule of the Ear ths environment at a ver y early stage of its de velopment Water security is a growing global challenge Poor water management can lead to potentially disastrous societal impacts ranging from deteriorating human health to food insecurity to broader environmental degradatio n Geoscientists study the dynamic interplay between water environment landscape subsurface sediments and rocks and human society to help Canadians monitor access and sustainably manage our precious water supplies A ppr o xima t e ly 30 of Canadians r e ly on g r ound wa t e r as t he ir primar y sour ce of drinking wa t e r It is al so use d f or ag ricult ur e aquacult ur e and is a ne cessar y compone nt in a wide v ar ie t y of indust rial act ivit ie s including man ufact uring mining sme lt ing and h y dr ocarbon pr oduction T he Ear t h has ab undant wa t e r f ound in t he oceans in the a t mosphe r e on t he land surface and unde r ne a t h t he g r ound including in some case s man y kilome t r e s be ne a t h t he surface Of cour se t his wa t e r is not al wa ys in t he right qual it y quant ity f or m or in t he right place a t t he right t ime f or human use Unde r st anding t he loca t ion and limit a t ions of t his vit al wa t e r supply is t he r ole of h y dr oge ologist s GR O UND W A T ER Canada is w e ll kno wn f or it s millions of lake s Le ss w e ll kno wn is t he fact t ha t m uc h of t he count r y s fr esh wa t e r is st or e d be lo w g r ound ra t he r t han on t he surface Aquife r s ar e por ous and pe r me ab le r ock unit s t ha t pe r mit t he st orage and fo w of wa t e r be ne a t h t he surface T he y ma y be int e r conne cte d and ar e fr e que ntly conne cte d t o lake s riv e r s and springs on surface Aquife r s w hic h can be t appe d b y w e lls can range in ar e a fr om a fe w he ctar e s t o millions of he ctar e s and in t hick ne ss fr om a fe w me t r e s t o hundr e ds of SAFEGUARDING CANADAS WA TER RESOURCES FOR FUTURE GENERA TIONS 2 httpsaguconfe xcomagufm1 6 meetingappcgiPaper 1 7 8 0 92 F BY