Groundwater mining sinks farmland forever
Published on by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network in Social
A new global groundwater assessment reveals that many key aquifers are being depleted faster than they can be replenished, more than offsetting sustainable management elsewhere. Globally, humans are consuming 3.5 times more groundwater than aquifers can support, the study states.
Much of the water extracted in the high-stress areas is used to irrigate farmland, and dry parts of North America and Asia fare the worst. Some parts of India, for instance, are using 54 times more water than the local aquifers can sustain.
As water is pumped out, the weight of the overlying rock and soil squeezes out the empty space left between grains of sediment.Years of pumping groundwater for irrigation compacted the underground layers of sediment, and the land surface dropped accordingly.
Read more:http://j.mp/QZMMvi