NASA Scientist: We're Running Out of Groundwater
Jun 16, 2015 17:44:49 GMT -6
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Post by kdog on Jun 16, 2015 17:44:49 GMT -6
The number one resource critical to life is being depleted at an alarming rate.
The Earth will be fine, almost all living things, maybe not so if we keep going like we are.
We're Running Out of Groundwater
Original Source
I comes the water barons.....
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The resources needed to supply the human population on Earth are slowly drying up.
The Earth will be fine, almost all living things, maybe not so if we keep going like we are.
Citing two studies by U.S. researchers, the Washington Post reports 21 of the world’s 37 largest aquifers around the globe, including India, China, the United States and France, have passed their "sustainability tipping points."
Thirteen of 37 aquifers were considered the most troubled, the Post reports; underground aquifers supply 35 percent of the water used by humans.
"The situation is quite critical," Jay Famiglietti, senior water scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the University of California Irvine-led studies’ principal investigator told the Post.
"The water table is dropping all over the world. There’s not an infinite supply of water."
In the most-troubled category were the Canning Basin in Australia, with the the third-highest rate of depletion in the world; the studies noted heavy mining is carried out near the basin, and mining is a "water-intensive activity," the Post reports.
In the United States, California’s Central Valley Aquifer was in the most trouble, drained to irrigate farm fields. With the added pressure of the drought plaguing the state, California is currently tapping aquifers for 60 percent of its water use, up from the usual 40 percent, the Post reports.
Thirteen of 37 aquifers were considered the most troubled, the Post reports; underground aquifers supply 35 percent of the water used by humans.
"The situation is quite critical," Jay Famiglietti, senior water scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the University of California Irvine-led studies’ principal investigator told the Post.
"The water table is dropping all over the world. There’s not an infinite supply of water."
In the most-troubled category were the Canning Basin in Australia, with the the third-highest rate of depletion in the world; the studies noted heavy mining is carried out near the basin, and mining is a "water-intensive activity," the Post reports.
In the United States, California’s Central Valley Aquifer was in the most trouble, drained to irrigate farm fields. With the added pressure of the drought plaguing the state, California is currently tapping aquifers for 60 percent of its water use, up from the usual 40 percent, the Post reports.
Original Source
Groundwater is an increasingly important water supply source globally. Understanding the amount of groundwater used versus the volume available is crucial to evaluate future water availability. We present a groundwater stress assessment to quantify the relationship between groundwater use and availability in the world's 37 largest aquifer systems. We quantify stress according to a ratio of groundwater use to availability, which we call the Renewable Groundwater Stress ratio. The impact of quantifying groundwater use based on nationally reported groundwater withdrawal statistics is compared to a novel approach to quantify use based on remote sensing observations from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission. Four characteristic stress regimes are defined: Overstressed, Variable Stress, Human-dominated Stress, and Unstressed.
A disturbing trend in the water sector is accelerating worldwide. The new “water barons” — the Wall Street banks and elitist multibillionaires — are buying up water all over the world at unprecedented pace.
Familiar mega-banks and investing powerhouses such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, UBS, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, Macquarie Bank, Barclays Bank, the Blackstone Group, Allianz, and HSBC Bank, among others, are consolidating their control over water. Wealthy tycoons such as T. Boone Pickens, former President George H.W. Bush and his family, Hong Kong’s Li Ka-shing, Philippines’ Manuel V. Pangilinan and other Filipino billionaires, and others are also buying thousands of acres of land with aquifers, lakes, water rights, water utilities, and shares in water engineering and technology companies all over the world.
The second disturbing trend is that while the new water barons are buying up water all over the world, governments are moving fast to limit citizens’ ability to become water self-sufficient (as evidenced by the well-publicized Gary Harrington’s case in Oregon, in which the state criminalized the collection of rainwater in three ponds located on his private land, by convicting him on nine counts and sentencing him for 30 days in jail). Let’s put this criminalization in perspective:
Familiar mega-banks and investing powerhouses such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, UBS, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, Macquarie Bank, Barclays Bank, the Blackstone Group, Allianz, and HSBC Bank, among others, are consolidating their control over water. Wealthy tycoons such as T. Boone Pickens, former President George H.W. Bush and his family, Hong Kong’s Li Ka-shing, Philippines’ Manuel V. Pangilinan and other Filipino billionaires, and others are also buying thousands of acres of land with aquifers, lakes, water rights, water utilities, and shares in water engineering and technology companies all over the world.
The second disturbing trend is that while the new water barons are buying up water all over the world, governments are moving fast to limit citizens’ ability to become water self-sufficient (as evidenced by the well-publicized Gary Harrington’s case in Oregon, in which the state criminalized the collection of rainwater in three ponds located on his private land, by convicting him on nine counts and sentencing him for 30 days in jail). Let’s put this criminalization in perspective:
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The resources needed to supply the human population on Earth are slowly drying up.