Debra Perrone, University of California, Santa Barbara dan Scott Jasechko, University of California, Santa Barbara
Millions of Americans rely on groundwater for their lives and livelihoods, but regulation is piecemeal. A new study maps groundwater wells nationwide and finds that they are drilling steadily deeper.
Adani’s request for the names of individual scientists reviewing their groundwater management plan has chilling implications for scientific independence.
It’s been years in the making, but Adani’s controversial Queensland coal mine is finally shovel-ready. Yet significant scientific questions remain, such as the impact on the region’s aquifers.
The Ogalalla Aquifer is a vast underground lake that irrigates farms across the US Great Plains. It took thousands of years to fill, but human use could drain it in roughly a century.
Residents of a small Victorian town realised that delicious water can be a curse as well as a blessing, when they lost a legal battle to stop a local farmer shipping groundwater to a nearby bottling plant.
Perth, unlike Cape Town, faces no prospect of its tapwater running out. But other problems lurk beneath the surface, as the city’s drying climate puts increasing pressure on irrigation and wetlands.
Groundwater is out of sight, but it shouldn’t be out of mind. As cities struggle to cope with drought, we should remember that our largest stocks of water are hidden deep underground.
This week’s ABC Four Corners episode investigated contamination at defence force sites and surrounding aquifers with chemicals called perfluoroalkyl acids or PFAAs. Around 18 sites are reported to be affected…
Building resilience in Cape Town’s water sector will require addressing risks like climate change, drought and flooding. Stormwater and groundwater are tipped as potential solutions.