The pace has accelerated: scientists have discovered that the level of groundwater is dropping sharply
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Groundwater levels are depleting in many countries of the world. During the period 2000-2022, it decreased by 71%.
This was the conclusion reached by an international team of scientists who conducted research, the results of which were published in the journal Nature.
This is the first global study that helped scientists find out the impact of human activity on the amount of groundwater, as well as how it is affected by other factors (climate changes and rainfall), writes CNN.
Scientists analyzed 170,000 wells in more than forty countries around the world. They found that between 2000 and 2022, groundwater levels dropped by 71%. In a third of the studied aquifers, a decrease in the water level by more than 0.1 meters per year was recorded.
To understand whether the decline seen in the 21st century is accelerating, the team also accessed data on groundwater levels from 1980 to 2000.
| Photo: javierglezphoto/Depositphotos |
They found that in the first two decades of the 21st century, groundwater level decline accelerated for 30% of aquifers. Moreover, it outpaced the decline recorded between 1980 and 2000.
Scientists are concerned about the trend, as a decrease in groundwater levels could make it difficult for people to access fresh water for drinking or irrigating crops, and could lead to land subsidence.
“This research is driven by curiosity. We wanted to better understand the state of global groundwater.”said Debra Perrone, associate professor in the Environmental Studies Program at UC Santa Barbara.
The researchers recorded that the water decreased the fastest in the Ascoy-Soplamo aquifer in Spain – an average of 2.95 meters per year.
However, there is also positive news. In Bangkok, Arizona and New Mexico, groundwater levels have risen following a series of measures to better regulate water use or divert it to replenish depleted aquifers.
“Groundwater is an incredibly important resource. But one of the problems is that we can’t see it, so most people don’t understand how much water levels are declining.
Our job is to reach out to governments. We have a resource that we must take care of and that we can use to increase resilience and adapt to climate change.” – says Donald John McAllister, hydrologist of the British Geological Survey.
Previously, we wrote about how to purify water from wells and rivers for drinking.
Read also: How to properly disinfect water and how to store it
Vera Shurmakevich“UP. Life”
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