Groundwater Occurrence Groundwater accounts for nearly 95 percent of the nation’s fresh water resources. It can stay underground for hundreds of thousands of years, or it c come to the surface and help fill rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, and wetlands. Groundwater is stored in the tiny open spaces between rock and sand, soil, and gravel. Groundwater is found in two zones. The unsaturated zone, immediately below the land surface, contains water and air in the open spaces, or pores. The saturated zone, a zone in which all the pores and rock fractures are filled with water, underlies the unsaturated zone. The top of the saturated zone is called the water table. Hydrological Cycle Hydrology can not be without water and so can never be hydrogeology without water and geology. Hydrologists use the term groundwater to represent water in the zone of saturation. Practically, all groundwater constitutes as a part of the hydrological cycle. However, a little amount of water may enter the cycl...