Scientists map loss of groundwater storage around the world
Published on by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network in Academic
Global water resources are stretched by climate change and human population growth, and farms and cities are increasingly turning to groundwater to fill their needs. Unfortunately, the pumping of groundwater can cause the ground surface above to sink, as the aquifers below are drained and the architecture of the ground collapses. For the first time, a new study maps this loss of groundwater storage capacity around the world.
In the study, published October in the journal Nature Communications , researchers from DRI, Colorado State University, and the Missouri University of Science and Technology examined how groundwater extraction is driving land subsidence and aquifer collapse.
"Our study puts land subsidence happening from excessive groundwater pumping to a global context," said Fahim Hasan, a Ph.D. candidate at Colorado State University and the study's lead author.
By combining publicly available data with the predictive capabilities of computer modeling, they found global aquifer storage capacity is disappearing at a rate of approximately 17 km3 per year (about the size of 7,000 Great Pyramids of Giza). This loss of groundwater storage is permanent, forever reducing the amount of water that can be captured and stored.
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Attached link
https://phys.org/news/2023-11-scientists-loss-groundwater-storage-world.htmlMedia
Taxonomy
- Groundwater
- Groundwater Recharge
- Groundwater Assessment
- Groundwater Modeling
- Groundwater Pollution
- Groundwater Mapping
- Surface-Groundwater Interaction
- Groundwater Quality & Quantity
- Groundwater Resource
- Public Water System and Groundwater Issues
- Groundwater Surveys and Development
- Groundwater monitoring and assessments
- Groundwater Remediation