Rapid groundwater decline and some cases of recovery in aquifers globally.

ABSTRACT: Groundwater resources are vital to ecosystems and livelihoods. Excessive groundwater withdrawals can cause groundwater levels to decline^1-10, resulting in seawater intrusion¹¹, land subsidence^12,13, streamflow depletion^14-16 and wells running dry¹⁷. However, the global pace and prevalence of local groundwater declines are poorly constrained, because in situ groundwater levels have not been synthesized at the global scale. Here we analyse in situ groundwater-level trends for 170,000 monitoring wells and 1,693 aquifer systems in countries that encompass approximately 75% of global groundwater withdrawals¹⁸. We show that rapid groundwater-level declines (>0.5 m year^-1) are widespread in the twenty-first century, espe

SUBMITTER: Jasechko S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10808077 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature