"The dome also has roots extending deep beneath the planet's surface, absorbing vital minerals, nutrients, and even fresh water from underground reserves."
More tarmac and concrete has left fewer green fields for water to drain into underground reserves, as Sheila Brocklebank reports.
Special drill bits are steered to dispersed underground reserves.
Without the surplus water, the Nevada water authority will need to draw on underground reserves.
A lack of oxygen in underground reserves keeps fire from spreading to great depths below the surface.
As of 2005 it has an underground reserve of oil which is worth $40,000 per unit.
Supplies in the open market are so short that the utility is tapping its underground reserves to meet 25 percent of present demand.
Made up primarily of methane, natural gas is extracted from abundant underground reserves.
The project would exploit lower-grade underground reserves by the block-caving method.
So it's interesting to note that when measured by underground reserves, West Virginia ranks fourth.