Wednesday August 30, 2023
The New York Times —
In an average year in California, roughly 40 percent of the state’s water supply comes from groundwater — the water that fills a well, naturally stored beneath our feet in aquifers. In a dry year, the share of the state’s water needs that are met from this hidden resource can exceed 60 percent.
In other words, groundwater is vital, here and across the nation. Drawing on underground water allowed vast cities to emerge and turned the nation into an agricultural powerhouse.
But many of America’s aquifers are being severely depleted, and quite a few of them won’t be able to bounce back, an investigation by several of my colleagues has found.
By analyzing data from tens of thousands of groundwater monitoring wells, The New York Times created a comprehensive database of U.S. groundwater levels. The findings are disturbing: Over the past 40 years, the water levels in most aquifers have fallen, because water has been pumped out faster than nature has been able to replenish them.