Waterloo Moraine

The Waterloo Moraine is a landform and sediment body that was created as a moraine in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, in Ontario, Canada. It covers a large portion of the cities of Waterloo and Kitchener and the township of Wilmot, and some parts of the townships of Wellesley and North Dumfries. About 90% of the water supply of the Regional Municipality of Waterloo is derived from groundwater of the Waterloo Moraine aquifer system.

During late 1989 and early 1990, groundwater contamination in Elmira forced the Region to shut down some well fields. As a result, new land use management guidelines and water protection measures have been enacted.

The Waterloo Moraine is the largest of fourteen moraines in the Region, spanning approximately 400 square kilometres. It is an interlobate moraine, consisting primarily of sand and gravel. It contains large aquifers, which discharge into the Grand River and its tributaries and maintain a base water flow rate into that system.

The Waterloo Moraine was formed as the three ice lobes of the Laurentide ice sheet retreated across what is now Waterloo Region from Lake Huron in the west, Georgian Bay in the northeast, Lake Ontario in the east and Lake Erie in the southeast. As the glacier moved, it carried with it huge boulders, sand, gravel and debris. As the ice disappeared, the Waterloo Moraine remained, a huge complex of glacial sediments that is between 30 metres and more than 100 metres thick. Meltwater streams cascading from the surface of the ice lobes carried enormous deposits of sand and gravel and blocks of bedrock.

...
Wikipedia