The Best Water on Earth! EarthCache
Afternoonshift: Well, it doesn't look like the signage is going to be replaced so it's time to archive this cache.
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The town of Gibsons is located in British Columbia, Canada. Their drinking water comes from an underground, confined aquifer. The water is pure enough not to require additional treatment in order to meet provincial health standards.
In fact, Gibsons won the top award in the Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting contest for the best municipal drinking water in the world. The judges in the competition were looking for water that was clear with no floating particles, odorless, refreshing and with no lingering taste and Gibsons came out ahead of 60 other municipalities from around the world.
An aquifer is an underground layer of materials (soil, sand, gravel, rock or clay) that provides usable quantities of water that can be tapped using a well. A confined aquifer is sandwiched between layers of materials that are impermeable, such as clay, that impede the movement of water into and out of the aquifer. This confinement also hampers the flow of contaminants from overlying land uses. The Gibsons’ aquifer is fed from the surface water and melting ice/snow pack in the surrounding mountains. Panel 3 at the cache location provides diagrams that will assist in the explanation and understanding of this process.
The coordinates for this earthcache will take you to a public water tap outside the Town’s pump station. Here you will find detailed information on this very important aquifer. You will also be able to fill up your water bottle and have a taste yourself.
To log this cache, please send an email with the answer to these questions:
1. What percentage of the world’s total freshwater is provided from groundwater?
2. In what year did Gibsons win the award for the best municipal drinking water in the world?
3. How many of the Gibsons’ zones draw their drinking water from the aquifer?
Unfortunately, anyone not answering the three simple questions above will have their log removed if the answers are not submitted within 7 days.
Thanks to Landsharkz for assisting us with this cache.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)