World Water is in dire situation

[IceWizard]

The world’s largest underground aquifers – a
source of fresh water for hundreds of millions of
people — are being depleted at alarming rates,
according to new NASA satellite data that provides the most detailed picture yet of vital
water reserves hidden under the Earth’s
surface. Twenty-one of the world’s 37 largest aquifers
— in locations from India and China to the
United States and France — have passed their
sustainability tipping points, meaning more
water was removed than replaced during the
decade-long study period, researchers announced Tuesday. Thirteen aquifers declined
at rates that put them into the most troubled
category. The researchers said this indicated a
long-term problem that’s likely to worsen as
reliance on aquifers grows. Scientists had long suspected that humans
were taxing the world’s underground water
supply, but the NASA data was the first detailed
assessment to demonstrate that major aquifers
were indeed struggling to keep pace with
demands from agriculture, growing populations, and industries such as mining. “The situation is quite critical,” said Jay
Famiglietti, senior water scientist at NASA’s Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in California and
principal investigator of the University of
California Irvine-led studies. Underground aquifers supply 35 percent of the
water used by humans worldwide. Demand is
even greater in times of drought. Rain-starved
California is currently tapping aquifers for 60
percent of its water use as its rivers and above-
ground reservoirs dry up, a steep increase from the usual 40 percent. Some expect water from
aquifers will account for virtually every drop of
the state’s fresh water supply by year end. The aquifers under the most stress are in poor,
densely populated regions, such as northwest
India, Pakistan and North Africa, where
alternatives are limited and water shortages
could quickly lead to instability. The researchers used NASA’s GRACE
satellites to take precise measurements of the
world’s groundwater aquifers. The satellites
detected subtle changes in the Earth’s
gravitational pull, noting where the heavier
weight of water exerted a greater pull on the orbiting spacecraft. Slight changes in aquifer
water levels were charted over a decade, from
2003 to 2013.

Http://washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog...-of-water/

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Feature...hingWater/

This could be big problems if it continues ... Maybe they should work on large plants to remove the salt from ocean water before we actually run slap out ...

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In drought-stricken California, skinny-
dipping nudists accused of stealing water

http://washingtonpost.com/news/morning-m...ing-water/