Panel discussion on Groundwater/Aquifer Threats and Solutions by members of the Presidents Council of Science and Technology. This is the official, public presentation of their findings and recommendations.
This is a critical discussion for those who like to have reliable drinking water.
The U.S. is facing a serious and unprecedented groundwater challenge. Across the U.S., groundwater withdrawal has outpaced natural recharge, while slow natural recharge has been exacerbated by climate change and precipitation variability, including floods, droughts, and early snowmelt. Groundwater is a critical resource for agriculture, domestic manufacturing, construction, mining, energy production, and other uses.
The largest use of groundwater, at 70%, is for irrigation. Moreover, groundwater supplies drinking water for half the U.S. population and nearly all the rural population. Sustaining and securing groundwater is thus central to our Nation’s health, food, water, and energy security, and economy. Adding to the challenge, much of the water in the major aquifers in the U.S. is fossil water, meaning it was last recharged over 10,000 years ago and will not be replaced naturally in centuries and millennia. In the western U.S., groundwater resources are being depleted at alarming rates.
The depletion has caused land subsidence and earth fissures as well as permanent reduction of storage capacity due to inelastic compaction of the subsurface formation.
