A Non-renewable Resource

Great care must be taken to protect and preserve these great underground wonders. Caves are non-renewable natural resources which benefit and enrich our lives in many ways, a few of which are: Insect Control, Scientific Knowledge, Water Supply and Education/Recreation. Caves may seem eternal, having been around for hundreds of thousands or even millions of years. But every cave is sensitive, whether open to the public as a show cave or an undeveloped wild cave. The biggest threat to these fragile environments is man. This threat includes, but is not limited to, Vandalism, Quarrying, Dam Construction and Water Pollution.

Caves and the land in which they are located are closely tied together. What happens on the surface can affect the subsurface, including groundwater and caves. For many years it was generally believed soil protected groundwater from contamination by human activities on the surface, filtering out the contaminants. However, this was found to be untrue. Activities on the land's surface - including sewage pollution, solid waste pollution, oil and gas pollution, and runoff from agricultural chemicals can adversely affect the quality of groundwater, which is the drinking water for about 50% of the US population.

Due to its complex geological history, New York has four types of aquifers. Those in carbonate rock are located in the valleys of central and southeastern NY. In the caves, solution channels and sinkholes (karst terrain) of these aquifers can store large amounts of groundwater. Contaminants from the surface can move rather quickly and reappear in water supplies miles from their source.

Touring a cavern gives us a good picture of karst. Imagine you are actually inside the groundwater system, touring a portion of an aquifer, where all the cracks and crevices were once completely filled with water. As the limestone beneath the soil was dissolved to form the cave, the overlying soil settled or collapsed to form sinkholes. Water entering the ground through sinkholes can carry soil, organic debris, and pollutants. This surface water becomes part of the groundwater flow system.

Contaminated water draining through a sinkhole in turn pollutes groundwater that wells and springs draw from. Sinkholes are environmentally sensitive areas and should never be used as dump sites. Sinkholes which have been used as dumps should be cleaned out to prevent any further contamination of the groundwater. Treat sinkholes with care. Remember: what you see in a sinkhole is what you may get from your faucet.