#America Is Using Up Its Groundwater Like There’s No Tomorrow

[wozziebear]

"As in Maryland, depletion means many communities could simply run out of drinking water.

A little more than one-third of America’s total volume of drinking water comes from groundwater, according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey. But small and rural communities are disproportionately dependent on wells, which typically cost less than treating and transporting water from rivers and lakes. Of the nation’s 143,070 water systems, 128,362 rely primarily on groundwater, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

In one particularly stark example, Arizona said in June that it would stop granting permission to build houses in the Phoenix area that rely on groundwater, because there wasn’t enough water for the homes that had already been approved.

Arizona has seen an explosion of wells, and they’ve gotten much deeper. In effect, across much of the state, the wells are chasing rapidly falling water levels downward.

Many of the country’s fast-growing communities are in places with limited rainfall, like Arizona, Texas, and Utah, and other areas across the southwest.

The National Association of Home Builders, asked about the wisdom of building houses where water is running out, said the industry was responding to the demands of homebuyers who want to live in those areas.

Susan Asmus, the association’s senior vice president for regulatory affairs, said builders follow the rules that local officials establish. She said it was up to governments to determine where and how it’s appropriate to build homes. The officials who approve those developments “obviously think they can manage the challenges,” Ms. Asmus said in a statement.

The federal government sets rules on groundwater, but not its overuse or depletion, although experts say Congress has the constitutional authority to do so. Overall, federal responsibility for water is scattered among a half-dozen different agencies.

America’s approach to regulating water is “a total mess,” said Upmanu Lall, director of the Columbia Water Center at Columbia University.

The 2021 infrastructure law increased spending for water storage, recycling and desalination programs, which might reduce some groundwater demand. A White House spokesman, Angelo Fernández Hernández, wouldn’t say what the Biden administration’s position was on whether the federal government should regulate groundwater extraction.

Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, represents a state where groundwater depletion is particularly severe. Almost two-thirds of monitoring wells in Oregon show a statistically significant decline in water levels since 1980.

Mr. Wyden is also chairman of the Water and Power Subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over groundwater management. Presented with the Times’s findings, he said the federal government needed to work with states to address what he called “the groundwater crisis.”

Any effort to impose federal oversight would very likely face opposition from agricultural groups. The American Farm Bureau Federation, which represents farmers, said states were best suited to address groundwater problems. The federal government’s role should be to spend money on infrastructure projects and help farmers pay for new technology, according to Courtney Briggs, the federation’s senior director of government affairs."

America Is Using Up Its Groundwater Like There’s No Tomorrow

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/08/28/climate/groundwater-drying-climate-change.html

[nando161mando]

America Is Using Up Its Groundwater Like There’s No Tomorrow

Plant genetics and also more efficient irrigation and better land management can help, but “The loss of water is going to outpace the gain of technology.”

[carasilverfern]

Global Crisis: Groundwater Levels Are Sinking Ever Faster Around the World

[emergencymanagementnews]

Unchecked overuse is draining and damaging aquifers nationwide, a data investigation by the New York Times revealed, threatening millions of people and America’s status as a food superpower.

[tsmom1219]

Uncharted waters: A series on the causes and consequences of disappearing water

The New York Times recently published a series on the national groundwater crisis. The articles include: America is using up its groundwater like there’s no tomorrow A tangle of rules to protect America’s water is falling short Inside Poland Spring’s hidden attack on water rules it didn’t like ‘Monster fracks’ are getting far bigger. And far thirstier.

[deepartnature]

America Is Using Up Its Groundwater Like There’s No Tomorrow

"Global warming has focused concern on land and sky as soaring temperatures intensify hurricanes, droughts and wildfires. But another climate crisis is unfolding, underfoot and out of view. ... These declines are threatening irreversible harm to the American economy and society as a whole. The New York Times conducted a months-long examination of groundwater depletion, interviewing more than 100 experts, traveling the country and creating a comprehensive database using millions of readings from monitoring sites. ..."

[tracygrenier-blog]

NYTimes: America Is Using Up Its Groundwater Like There’s No Tomorrow

America Is Using Up Its Groundwater Like There’s No Tomorrow https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/08/28/climate/groundwater-drying-climate-change.html?smid=nytcore-android-share

[ivankahasbeentreatedsounfairly]

[antonio-velardo]

Antonio Velardo shares: America Is Using Up Its Groundwater Like There’s No Tomorrow by Mira Rojanasakul, Christopher Flavelle, Blacki Migliozzi and Eli Murray

By Mira Rojanasakul, Christopher Flavelle, Blacki Migliozzi and Eli Murray Unchecked overuse is draining and damaging aquifers nationwide, a New York Times investigation found, threatening millions of people and America’s status as a food superpower. Published: August 28, 2023 at 05:19PM from NYT Climate https://ift.tt/aUVrTlm via IFTTT