“When rain falls on the earth, the water does not stop moving. Some flows along the earth's surface to streams or lakes, some is used by plants. Some evaporate and return to the atmosphere. And some seeps underground, into pores between sand, clay and rock formations called aquifers. Water moves through aquifers much like a glass of water poured onto a pile of sand. enter and contaminate the aquifers we rely on for clean drinking water. Groundwater, which comes from aquifers, is a vital resource that must be protected, conserved and monitored to ensure it is safe and is not depleted. Groundwater is used for irrigation, commercial use, thermoelectric irrigation, livestock, domestic supply, mining, industry and public supply. According to a report released by the USGS in 1998 for the 1995 water year showing national groundwater use, 63% was used for irrigation, 1% for commercial use, 1% for thermoelectric, 3% for domestic supply, 3% for mining, 5% for industrial use and 20% for public use. “Every state uses a certain amount of groundwater. Nineteen states get more than 25 percent of their overall water supply from groundwater. Ten states obtain more than 50% of their total water supply from groundwater.” (EPA, 2014) After seeing these numbers it shows how important groundwater is to our daily lives. About 20% of the earth's dry surface is karst. The Midwest and Eastern United States are approximately 40 percent karst landscape. There are approximately 40,000 known caves in the United States ranging in length from a few meters to a few hundred miles. ......middle of paper ......lopment, waste disposal, deforestation. Surface spills cause contamination of groundwater. Caves are destroyed by vandalism, mining, or construction. The development of krast landscapes is inevitable, because this is recognized; plans have been put in place to reduce negative human impacts and promote sustainability. The Karst Disturbance Index (KDI), which uses environmental indicators, was created to measure qualitative and quantitative human impacts on karst landscapes. There is also the Karst Sustainable Index (KSI) which integrates environmental, economic and social indicators relevant to resource use and was specifically designed for the sustainability of karst environments. KSI is divided into three categories; Core domain, social domain and environmental domain. Each of the three categories contains different indicators to determine sustainability.