Maddaugh Spring
Springs are places where groundwater flows from an aquifer to the land's surface. They're a visible reminder that much of the earth's freshwater is underground, yet still connected to the water that we see in rivers and lakes.
Many communities in southern Ontario, and most people living in rural areas, rely on groundwater for their drinking water supplies. They typically pump groundwater from underground aquifers. Springs give us access to groundwater without pumping.
People have been coming to Maddaugh Spring for decades to collect drinking water, believing that it is safer and healthier than tap water. Drinking unprotected spring water is not risk-free because groundwater can be contaminated by things we do on the land. Springs like this one, which is located within a creek, are also exposed to contaminants in the surface water when the creek's levels are higher.
During a dry southern Ontario summer, much of the water that people see flowing in tiny creeks like this may come from groundwater sources like Maddaugh Spring.
A culvert buried vertically in the creek bed fills with groundwater from the spring. People collect the spring water in jugs. An opening in the side of the culvert lets the spring water flow into the creek, where it supplies base flow and lowers the creek's water temperature.
The groundwater temporarily stored in the culvert is noticeably colder than the creek it flows into. Many creatures that live in the creek depend on the cooling effect of the groundwater.
Groundwater still dribbles out of an old culvert people used to use to collect spring water. It marks another place where water in aquifers and water on the land surface are visibly linked.
