The difference between groundwater and aquifer is the aquifer is a body of rock and or sediment which holds the groundwater and can be deep within the earth or between 100 to 800 feet.
The groundwater is the water that is stored underground that seeps through the ground from rainfall, snow melt, ice melt etc.
The rainwater that turns into groundwater is filtered through the soil and collected in empty spaces underground.
There are 2 types of aquifers which are unconfined and confined aquifers.
A water well is drilled or dug to access the aquifers with the drilled wells being the most common and then a submersible pump or other well pump is installed to extract the water from the aquifers.
The state that uses the most groundwater is California which accounts for 21 percent of total groundwater usages in the United States and draws at least 67 percent of it's fresh water from groundwater.
The deepest aquifer in the world is the Great Artesian Basin in Australia which covers 1.7 million square kilometers, which is equivalent to a quarter of the entire country and 7 times the area of the UK.
The Great Artesian Basin in Australia has a depth of 9,800 feet which makes it the deepest aquifer in the world.
The deepest Aquifer in the United States is the Ogallala Aquifer that has a maximum thickness and depth of 800 feet.
The US state that has the largest aquifer is the state of Texas.
Texas has the largest aquifer in the United States which is the Ogallala Aquifer that underlies much of the high plains region.
The Ogallala Aquifer in Texas is made up of sand, gravel, clay and silt and has a thickness of 800 feet.
The Ogallala Aquifer is a shallow water table aquifer surrounded by sand, silt, clay, and gravel located beneath the Great Plains in the United States.
As one of the world's largest aquifers, it underlies an area of approximately 174,000 sq mi in portions of eight states.
The Ogallala Aquifer was named in 1898 by geologist N. H
But despite its size, the Ogallala is drying up.
Scientists have reported for years that, if recharge and use continue at current rates, research shows that much of the Ogallala in Texas could be depleted as soon as 2100.
The aquifer is a finite resource as the region supplies its industries' and communities' daily needs.
The HPWD noted that in an average year, Ogallala regains around half of an inch of water.
That recharging mostly happens through playa lakes, shallow dips in prairies or plains where rainwater can collect.