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While the Maritimes suffered through a long drought this year, Sable Island didn’t have the same problem.<\/p>\n
That is because the island located 290 kilometres southeast of Halifax has a large underground supply of fresh water.<\/p>\n
\u201cImagine a giant, upside down dome of fresh water that is floating on top of the denser salty water in the ocean,” Audrey Levesque, a Parks Canada visitor experience co-ordinator on Sable Island, told Information Morning this week.<\/p>\n
“The sand under the island is fully permeable, so it acts like a massive sponge.\u201d<\/p>\n
Levesque says the island receives a bit more rain and snow than the Halifax area on a regular basis and the water goes underground almost instantly, which is why the island does not have streams. <\/p>\n
Over time, this fresh water forms a thick layer of groundwater that can be as deep as 30 metres, with some studies suggesting it can be more than that.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou need to picture this soft, rounded amount of water under the island, highest in the middle and gradually thinning toward the beaches,\u201d Levesque said.<\/p>\n
Levesque said it isn’t unique to Sable Island. This happens on many islands and areas with coastal terrain where large amounts of water get trapped in wet sand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The phenomenon means wildlife on Sable Island have access to 21 permanent ponds and water that is available year-round.<\/p>\n
But the island\u2019s famed horses have also begun digging for their own water supply, Levesque says. <\/p>\n
“In places where water is not accessible in ponds, they are digging wells into the sand,” she says.<\/p>\n
For the few people who are on the island, they have a well that supplies their own fresh water. This water supply, Levesque says, is better than the water mainlanders consume.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don’t bring water, we will provide it,” she said. “And it’s going to taste so much better.”<\/p>\n
While the rest of Nova Scotia struggled with crops and well drying up, Sable Island didn’t have that issue despite a dry spring.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were in the normal of our rainfall,” Levesque said. “We did check the water level in the well. We were monitoring it, but it never reached a threshold of being worried.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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