Groundwater discharge

Groundwater is like a big ocean underground. Just like the ocean, there is water moving around under the ground. Sometimes the water comes up to the surface and that's called groundwater discharge.

Imagine you are playing in a sandbox and you dig a hole. If there is a lot of water under the sand, it might come up into the hole you dug. That's kind of like groundwater discharge.

Groundwater discharge happens where the ground is kind of like a sponge and can hold a lot of water. When the sponge gets so full that it can't hold any more water, the water has to come out somewhere. It could come out in rivers or streams, or it could even make a puddle on the ground.

There are a lot of things that can affect groundwater discharge, like how much rain there is, how much water is underground, and how much people are using the water. It's important to understand groundwater discharge because it's a big part of how our environment works and how we can use water to grow crops and have water to drink.