Drought: Earth's Groundwater is Being Drained Quickly, World Running Out of Water

The world's water may be in danger. Using satellites, scientists have found that civilization is rapidly draining some of its largest groundwater basins, and there's no accurate data about how much water remains within them.

"Available physical and chemical measurements are simply insufficient," said Jay Famiglietti, principal investigator, in a news release. "Given how quickly we are consuming the world's groundwater reserves, we need a coordinated global effort to determine how much is left."

In this latest study, the researchers calculated groundwater losses by using data from space. They examined readings generated by NASA's twin GRACE satellites that measure dips and bumps in Earth's gravity, which is affected by the weight of water.

The scientists examined the planet's 37 largest aquifers between 2003 and 2013. The eight worst off were classified as overstressed with nearly no natural replenishment to offset usage. Another five aquifers were found, in descending order, to be extremely or highly stressed-still overused, but with some water flowing back into them.

So which was the most stressed? The Arabian Aquifer System, an important water source for more than 60 million people, is the most overstressed in the world. This one is followed by the Indus Basin aquiver of northwestern India and Pakistan, and the Murzuk-Djado Basin in northern Africa. California's Central Valley was slightly better off, but still highly stressed.

"As we're seeing in California right now, we rely much more heavily on groundwater during drought," said Famiglietti. "When examining the sustainability of a region's water resources, we absolutely must account for that dependence."

The findings reveal the importance of further measurements to find out exactly how much groundwater is left in these aquifers. In addition, steps should be taken in order to conserve water and limit water use.

"I believe we need to explore the world's aquifers as if they had the same value as oil reserves," said Famiglietti. "We need to drill for water the same way that we drill for other resources."

The findings are published in the journal Water Resources Research.

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