The short answer is, we don't know. The longer answer involves a lot of evidence that we can't hurt it that much. But then again, in the 1900's farmers were forced by law to dump their waste ag chemicals into the Atlantic ocean, so wait 100 years and we'll see.
More importantly are the subtle differences to ground water temperature when wells are drilled close together in densely populated areas. This is a bit off-topic for the OP, but I went to an alt-energy talk where someone was all jazzed about geo-thermal. I asked if anyone's done any research about what the cold water pumped into the well does to the water table, or whether you could trigger fungal blooms underground and render otherwise potable water undrinkable. They, as you can guess, didn't have an answer.
Alt-energy is all exciting and holds such potential until you realize that bituminous coal was once the miracle solution to having everyone burn wood.
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The short answer is, we don't know. The longer answer involves a lot of evidence that we can't hurt it that much. But then again, in the 1900's farmers were forced by law to dump their waste ag chemicals into the Atlantic ocean, so wait 100 years and we'll see.
More importantly are the subtle differences to ground water temperature when wells are drilled close together in densely populated areas. This is a bit off-topic for the OP, but I went to an alt-energy talk where someone was all jazzed about geo-thermal. I asked if anyone's done any research about what the cold water pumped into the well does to the water table, or whether you could trigger fungal blooms underground and render otherwise potable water undrinkable. They, as you can guess, didn't have an answer.
Alt-energy is all exciting and holds such potential until you realize that bituminous coal was once the miracle solution to having everyone burn wood.