We’ve blown past the safe and just limit for vital Earth systems, from climate change to the biosphere and the use of fertilisers and freshwater. For humans to thrive means living in safe limits
The slow release of information about the chemical spill and results of air and water tests have left many questions about the risks and long-term impact.
Heavy rain from a series of atmospheric rivers flooded large parts of California from late December 2022 into early January 2023.
Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
There are fears the Northern Territory government will allow gas and other industries to extract substantially more water from the environment than is currently allowed.
Hundreds of freshwater basins across the world, including the dried-up Santa Olalla permanent freshwater lagoon, in Spain’s Doñana National Park, are the most likely to experience social and ecological impacts due to freshwater use.
(Donana Biological Station/CSIC)
While we know how global changes in freshwater pose risks to humans and ecosystems, we know less about how people and ecosystems will respond to these global freshwater challenges.
When groundwater comes to the surface, sunlight and air convert organic molecules to greenhouse gases. That’s going to be a problem as we will need this water more as the world warms.
A well brings groundwater to the surface at an oasis in Egypt.
Water Alternatives Photos
Groundwater has the potential to support broad economic, humanitarian and social development in sub-Saharan Africa, as it has in other regions globally.
The old village of Aceredo, submerged 30 years ago when a hydropower dam flooded the valley, emerged during a drought in northwestern Spain, in February 2022.
(AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Water is central to adapting to climate change, but very few of the strategies put in place to respond to water hazards or ensure its availability have been evaluated.
Groundwater is used for irrigation and drinking water, but those wells are rarely more than one kilometre deep. A huge volume of salty water exists as much as 10 kilometres below the Earth’s surface.
(Shutterstock)
Groundwater is the second-largest store of water on Earth. Governments and industry use groundwater reservoirs to store waste, but it may also have environmental functions that haven’t been revealed.
Billions of people globally rely on groundwater. Accurate data about water quality is key.
Shutterstock/ssupawas
More than 40 per cent of natural wetlands in the Canadian Prairies have been lost due to drainage, and the impacts associated with this are largely unmitigated.
Some of North America’s groundwater is so old, it fell as rain before humans arrived here thousands of years ago.
Maria Fuchs via Getty Images
As surface water diminishes in the Western US, people are drilling deeper wells – and tapping into older groundwater that can take thousands of years to replenish naturally.