By: Nadia Liu

Editor-in-Chief

The water you drink, in your sink, or use to grow the produce in your fridge likely came from aquifers, a precious resource that the United States is rapidly depleting. Aquifers, which supply 90 percent of the nation’s water systems, are layers of underground material made of porous rock or sediments that hold water. This well of groundwater helped create America’s vast cities and bountiful farmland, but over-extraction and lack of regulation have meant that over the last 40 years, the country has pumped out more water than can be naturally replenished, causing a crisis with widespread implications. Groundwater must be monitored and regulated more strictly and consistently to prevent further disaster. 

In order to hydrate the country, we drill deep wells and boreholes to tap into aquifers, which are supposed to be reliable banks of water, stored safely deep underground. In the United States, data on aquifers is hard to come by, due to poor tracking scattered across local, state, and federal jurisdictions. Last year, the New York Times conducted a comprehensive investigation into the depletion of groundwater, creating an extensive database using millions of readings from over 80,000 wells. The investigation revealed that 45 percent of the sites examined showed a statistically significant decline in groundwater levels since 1980, and that four in ten sites had reached record-low levels during the past decade. Aquifer depletion threatens tap and drinking water supply and industrial farming, shrinks rivers that rely on groundwater, and causes land to sink — a phenomenon known as subsidence. A study in the journal Science estimates that by 2040, subsidence could affect 1.6 billion people and cause trillions of dollars in losses. 

Groundwater loss is hurting breadbasket states like Kansas, with aquifers no longer able to support industrial-scale agriculture, causing crop yields to plummet and threatening America’s reputation as an agricultural superpower. Advances in pump technology have transformed the US into a food powerhouse, producing massive yields that surface water and rainwater alone couldn’t support. However, that success stems from draining aquifers that could take over centuries to replenish themselves. In Wichita County, a county in Western Kansas that ran out of the groundwater that supplies its farms, the corn yield was 70.6 bushels per acre, 60 percent less than the national average and the lowest in over 60 years, an alarming trend that could be echoed throughout the rest of the country if the depletion of aquifers continues at the same rate.

The loss of groundwater also affects tap and drinking water, with about one-third of America’s total volume of drinking water coming from groundwater. Overpumping not only diminishes the supply of water, but can also contaminate aquifers through processes like saltwater intrusion, making the remaining water unsafe or undrinkable. In Long Island, New York, saltwater is encroaching on over-pumped aquifers that provide drinking water for three million people, forcing the island to limit pumping at about 60 of its wells. In Norfolk, Virginia, and other cities in the US, the groundwater is so dangerously depleted that officials are pumping treated wastewater into the aquifers to prevent water levels from falling further, but at great cost. In Phoenix, Arizona, one of America’s fastest growing cities, the aquifer crisis is so severe that there’s not enough groundwater in parts of the county to build new houses.

The largest obstacle to reducing groundwater usage is the lack of regulation, with the federal government playing almost no role and individual states implementing unclear and weak rules. For example, rules allow groundwater to be pumped until it’s gone in states including Texas, Oklahoma, and Colorado. Although the federal government sets rules on groundwater, it doesn’t control its overuse or depletion and the responsibility is spread out among half a dozen different agencies, which prevents any effective regulation. 

Weak state regulations, lack of federal oversight, and no comprehensive national data have made it possible for farms, cities, and companies to drain aquifers, a trend that must be reversed before consequences worsen. Policies such as fees for irrigation water — which has reduced groundwater usage in Pajaro Valley by 20 percent —  stricter regulation, and groundwater recharging projects can help replenish the quickly dwindling resource. Regarding the crisis, associate director for water resources at the US Geological Survey Don Cline stated, “There is no way to get that back. There’s almost no way to convey how important it is.”

(Sources: Forbes, NY Times, Wired)