Ground Water and Wells

Recently I have been reading, more fittingly referencing, a tome called ‘Ground Water and Wells’, Second Addition and third printing 1989. Not a recent publication and a book I borrowed from work. It totals 1082 pages, the Appendix alone is 178 pages, more than many books. It’s a serious read and there are some jewels. Like what gives water its unusual dissolving powers, the reason mineral waters have minerals. The water molecule is made up of one negatively charged oxygen atom and two positively charged hydrogen atoms. However, the arrangement of the atoms is not symmetrical, but dipolar. At this point the book tells us that the earth is also dipolar, the north pole is positively charged while the south pole is negatively charged. Water is one of the few electrically unbalanced solvents, and for this reason reacts with charged rock forming minerals they come in contact with, stripping away and bonding with them. And this is the reason groundwater, more so than surface water, is mineral rich.