How fast water soaks into, or infiltrates the soil depends on soil type, land use, and the intensity and length of the storm. Water infiltrates faster into soils that are mostly sand than into those that are mostly clay or silt. Almost no water filters into paved areas. Rain that cannot be absorbed into the ground collects on the surface, forming runoff streams. When the soil is completely saturated, additional water moves slowly down through the unsaturated zone to the saturated zone, replenishing or recharging the groundwater.
Water then moves through the saturated zone to groundwater discharge areas.
Evaporation occurs when water from such surfaces as oceans, rivers, and ice is converted to vapor. Evaporation, together with transpiration from plants, rises above the Earth s surface, condenses, and forms clouds. Water from both runoff and from groundwater discharge moves toward streams and rivers and may eventually reach the ocean. Oceans are the largest surface water bodies that contribute to evaporation. Groundwater can become contaminated in many ways.