Add this to your list of things that are depressing: We’re losing our underground water supply, and there’s no way to get it all back. ProPublica reporter Abrahm Lustgarten wrote last week about a new report in the journal Science Advances that describes our rapidly drying planet as “a critical, emerging threat to humanity.” Among the report’s findings: - The uninhibited mining of underground freshwater aquifers by farmers, cities and corporations around the world now accounts for 68% of the total loss of fresh water at the latitudes where most people live.
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Much of the water taken from aquifers contributes to sea level rise. Mined groundwater rarely seeps back into the aquifers from which it was pumped. Rather, a large portion runs off into streams, then rivers and ultimately the oceans.
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Drying regions of the planet are expanding quickly. The parts of the world drying most acutely are becoming interconnected, forming what the authors describe as “mega” regions.
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