Global groundwater levels dwindling: study
And if that weren’t bad enough:A global survey of groundwater levels appears to show underground supplies are dwindling. The research, examining groundwater reserves by measuring rainfall and other water sources against evaporation and removal for agriculture and other uses, finds that the rate of depletion more than doubled between 1960 and 2000, to 283 cubic kilometres annually from 126 cubic kilometres per year.
Depletion hotspots include northwest India, northeastern China, northeast Pakistan, California’s Central Valley and the midwestern U.S., according to the report.
In other words, less of the water we depend on to survive and more of the non-drinkable kind that could eventually flood and drown coastal areas.Groundwater represents roughly 30 per cent of all fresh water in the world. Its depletion is leading to an increase in sea levels, as people remove groundwater, leaving it then to evaporate and fall as rain.