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The water cycle is a natural system which distributes water over the surface of the earth. There are two forces that create the cycle: gravity and heat from the sun. The sun's heat causes liquid water on the surface of the earth to change into water vapor and rise from the ground to form clouds in the atmosphere. When atmospheric conditions are right, the water vapor in clouds condenses to form liquid water which gravity pulls down to earth as precipitation. The cycle repeats itself as the water that has fallen as precipitation and collected on the ground is heated by the sun to form water vapor.
Precipitation in the form of rain, snow and hail falls to the ground. Some of this precipitation is intercepted by trees, roofs or other structures. The water that hits the ground either soaks into the soil or runs off until it reaches a stormwater drain, natural wash, channel or river.
Infiltration is what happens when the rain soaks into the ground. The water sinks deeper and deeper into the ground until if finds itself in an underground lake called an aquifer. Water in an aquifer is known as groundwater.
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