Watersheds
Coastal Habitats
A Limited Resource
Water covers almost three quarters of the earth’s surface, but only three percent of it is fresh water, and less than one third of that is usable. The remaining fresh water is locked up as snow and ice at the polar regions.
All living things depend on water to survive. It is important to realize that our water resources are limited, and that we impact water quality and availability in subtle and sometimes far reaching ways. For example, mercury (a poisonous metal) is released into the atmosphere as a by-product of burning coal, and can be carried by the wind for hundreds of miles before raining down with rain or snow and contaminating streams, rivers, lakes, the ocean, and ultimately the seafood we may eat.
Half of the rainwater falling on the 2,400 square mile Pine Barrens region seeps through the porous soil into the Cohansey Aquifer. Surface runoff and seepage from this aquifer are the sources for all of Southern New Jersey’s rivers flowing to the sea and Delaware Bay. The Cohansey and its deeper counterpart, the Kirkwood, also supply most of Southern New Jersey’s drinking water.
Marker can be reached from County Route 524, on the left when traveling west.
Courtesy hmdb.org
