Groundwater levels are on the decline worldwide and one of the areas seeing the biggest change is right here in our own backyard.
A study in Journal Nature found groundwater levels are decreasing from the Sacramento Valley to the Central Valley at a rapid pace over the last four decades.
Scott Jasechko, co-author of the study and assistant professor of water resources with the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at UC Santa Barbara, said he and his colleagues analyzed measurements from over 170,000 wells in more than 40 countries.
“If we continue doing what we are doing, things may get worse before they get better,” Jasechko said.
The study showed that parts of California have some of the fastest declining aquifer levels in the world. Areas south of Stanislaus County through portions of Southern California in the Kaweah Basin and in the Colusa Basin near Woodland are some of the places on the list.
“On the west side of the Sacramento Valley, there are places where the groundwater levels are declining at two feet per year. There are places in Iran where the levels are dropping of up to 10 feet per year. So there’s some worrying declines,” Jasechko said.
Jasechko and his colleagues found that areas with a warmer climate and more agriculture are losing their water faster.
“It’s a dry climate naturally, were relying on groundwater and those aquifers are clearly not being replenished fast enough to keep up with pumping,” Jasechko said.
Many areas over-pumping groundwater to irrigate farmlands to keep up with […]
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