The Biden infrastructure plan has been sold as a way to address the effects of climate change. Parts of the plan have been lambasted as “not infrastructure” by Senate Republicans, but most agree that water systems should be included.
https://www.afinalwarning.com/518404.html (Natural News) In a new study published in the journal
Researchers Scott Jasechko and Debra Perrone, both water resources engineers from the
University of California, Santa Barbara, arrived at this finding after analyzing nearly 39 million well construction records from 40 different countries. The pair studied each well’s location, the reason it was constructed and its depth, among others.
They found that up to 20 percent of wells worldwide extend no more than 16 feet below the water table, or the top surface of the groundwater. This suggested that these wells would run “dry” if groundwater levels decline by just a few feet. A well goes dry when the water table drops so far that the well isn’t deep enough to reach it.
Water Wells Are At Risk Of Going Dry In The US And Worldwide
As the drought outlook for the Western U.S. becomes increasingly bleak, attention is turning once again to groundwater - literally, water stored in the ground. It is Earth’s most widespread and reliable source of fresh water, but it’s not limitless.
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Wells that people drill to access groundwater supply nearly half the water used for irrigated agriculture in the U.S. and provide over 100 million Americans with drinking water. Unfortunately, pervasive pumping is causing groundwater levels to decline in some areas, including much of California’s San Joaquin Valley and Kansas’ High Plains.
By Debra Perrone and Scott Jasechko, University of California Santa Barbara
As the drought outlook for the Western U.S. becomes increasingly bleak, attention is turning once again to groundwater – literally, water stored in the ground. It is Earth’s most widespread and reliable source of fresh water, but it’s not limitless.
Wells that people drill to access groundwater supply nearly half the water used for irrigated agriculture in the U.S. and provide over 100 million Americans with drinking water. Unfortunately, pervasive pumping is causing groundwater levels to decline in some areas, including much of California’s San Joaquin Valley and Kansas’ High Plains.
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Researchers from the University of California at Santa Barbara have published the most extensive analysis to date on groundwater infrastructure across the globe. Their research calls attention to the high number of wells at risk for running dry, including along the Central Coast.
Around the world, billions of people rely on wells for drinking water and crop irrigation, but that reliance is being threatened by changes in groundwater levels.
“When wells run dry, people lose access to a water supply to their homes, and people lose access to a reliable source of water to produce crops that support their livelihoods,” said Debra Perrone, assistant professor in UCSB s Environmental Studies Program.