It’s Not a Savings Account: Using an Accurate Analogy for Groundwater’s Role in Ecohydrology

Groundwater can significantly buffer surface water variability and drought impacts on ecohydrology. As such, groundwater is often considered a sort of savings account, a resource that can be tapped with minimal costs. However, this analogy is misleading. In most cases groundwater is more analogous to a credit card with transaction fees, limited grace periods, interest rates, and potential penalties. The credit card analogy is a simple, effective way to convey to a wide audience the potential for propagation of groundwater impacts in the ecohydrologic system. A series of examples are used to demonstrate the credit card analogy, show how the savings analogy does not work, and motivate a more accurate understanding of groundwater pumping on ecohydrology. Approaching groundwater as a credit system improves our ability to anticipate future ecohydrologic impacts, assess potential costs, and make decisions based on a better conceptualization of the hydrologic system.