Are We Going to Have Enough Water?

With the willpower to better understand the status of global groundwater Jasechko and his team from The University of California Santa Barbara compiled data, taking water level measurements from 170,000 wells. They evaluated trends in a total of 1,693 aquifers, revealing that groundwater had dropped in 71% of aquifers. This is three times as many places where groundwater depletions would be expected by chance.

Groundwater depletion can have serious consequences for the environment such as land surface collapses called land subsidence and saltwater intrusions, when saltwater from the ocean infiltrates freshwater aquifers. Social downsides include a potential water shortage, and reduced agricultural productivity. 

Deepening groundwater is substantially more common in drier climates with arid lands correlating with lower precipitation, however there are some places where groundwater depletion has reversed. Such cases show hope that with intentional effort groundwater levels can be restored. For example, the Colorado River is used to replenish an aquifer near the Avra Valley. Although plentiful money is spent building infrastructure to store water in surface reservoirs, aquifers can store up to six times more water per dollar. 

Undoubtedly, government intervention is also necessary to reduce demand for groundwater in order to slow declines. This would require fees, permits, and strict monitoring for usage. I believe that another route to saving groundwater is promoting awareness of water conservation via incentives and educational programs. Rainwater harvesting is also a viable and possible solution.

Data from this study’s measurements complements the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission having twin satellites with the ability to detect minute fluctuations in the planet’s gravity revealing dynamics of aquifers at larger scales. Scientists can explore groundwater conditions around the world where they do not have in-situ data. 

This new research about groundwater depletion along with data from GRACE, is a call to action for measures to be taken to prevent life threatening consequences.