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Thirsty cities, fields and livestock drink deeply from aquifers, natural sources of groundwater. But a study of three of the most-tapped aquifers in the US, the Central Valley aquifer in California, the High Plains aquifer in the Great Plains states, and the Mississippi Embayment aquifer in the lower Midwest, shows that overdrawing from these resources could lead to difficult choices affecting not only domestic food security but also international markets.
A team of researchers studied groundwater consumption from the main aquifer systems and found they are being managed unsustainably, which means that water is being extracted faster than it is replenished. Reliance on these aquifers intensified so much from 2000 to 2008 that it accounted for 93 percent of groundwater depletion in the US. The team also found that the vast majority – 91 percent – of embodied groundwater from these three aquifers stayed within the US. The remaining 9 percent was exported internationally.Image credit: Tom Sears
