Why don't lakes overflow every time it rains?

Answer 1

There are many kinds of wells. When they overflow they are called artesian wells or springs. A well is a man made thing. It is nothing more than a hole in the earth to gain access to fresh groundwater. Old wells were dug by hand till water was found and then the walls were shored up with local stones to keep the well from collapsing. Then a cover was built around the top of the well ands a roof was then added. This kept people from falling in as well as keeping debris from falling or blown in by the wind. A manual lever, rope and bucket fishished the thing. Now, the answer is gravity. Water seeps to its lowest point in the ground and then flows to the sea. Also known as underground rivers, they can be anywhere from 5 feet deep to over 1000 feet deep. Ground water levels can fluctuate with the amount of rainfall for an area. Wells can dry up and also the ground water table can rise, but not enough to make it to ground level. When water seeps all the way to the hot magma underground, it turns to steam and geysers and warm springs appear on the surface. Yellowstone National Park's "Old Faithful" and Warm Springs, Georgia are two examples of this. We get sinkholes because the ground that we walk on dialy "floats" on a layer of saturated soil which water flows through, although very slowly and when it dries up it is unable to support the layer(s) above it. During earthquakes this layer gets shook up and liquifaction occurs also unable to support the layer(s) above it and objects like buildings and bridges sink into what seems to be solid earth. Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Because lakes have such large surface areas, it takes some really serious rainfall to significantly alter the height of the water. Any rain is spread evenly across the large expanse of water, and there is usually not enough to cause a flood.