Remember when Phoenix limited new construction earlier this year because there wasn't enough water to support the new homes? A New York Times investigation of America's groundwater situation suggests we'll be seeing more stories like that, and not only in desert states. The problem spans the country, largely unseen because it's unfolding underground, and it's getting worse. The Times created a first-of-its-kind database of more than 80,000 monitoring stations in the US and found that levels in about half have declined significantly in the last 40 years, with about 40% of them hitting all-time lows in the last decade. Last year was the worst year yet. It's not yet another doom-and-gloom climate change story exactly, because other factors—notably improved technology that has resulted in powerful pumps—are at play.
But the upshot is that America is burning through its groundwater at a rate that cannot be naturally replenished. "There is no way to get that back," says Don Cline of the US Geological Survey. "There's almost no way to convey how important it is." For example, Kansas farms are producing less corn because a major aquifer has been over-pumped, and drinking-water wells are threatened in Long Island. Oklahoma is in the process of trying to figure out how bad its own situation is, which could result in public disclosures that will not please homeowners. "If we show an area may be depleted in, let's say, two years, well, if someone tries to sell that property, they're not going to be able to," says one state water official. Such situations could play out all over. A water expert at the University of Tulsa sums it up: "From an objective standpoint, this is a crisis. There will be parts of the US that run out of drinking water." Read the full story. (Or check out other longforms.)
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