Too much groundwater pumping is draining many of the world’s rivers by Charles Poe

Too much groundwater pumping is draining many of the world’s rivers

Charles Poe

https://www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/100819_JL_groundwater_feat-1028x579.jpg

Water stored in underground aquifers provides us with the majority of accessible freshwater. However, the current rate that we are pumping water out of aquifers is beginning to empty natural waterways that harms freshwater ecosystems and increases the difficulty of agriculture. Aquifers under rivers keep the rivers flowing, even when the water level is low, by groundwater from the aquifer seeping into the river. 

If the rate of pumping water out of these aquifers exceeds a certain limit, the rivers will start drying up. Somewhere between 15 and 21 percent of aquifers tapped by humans have already reached this extraction limit, and if this pumping rate continues we expect to have 42 to 79 percent reach this limit by the year 2050.


https://www.sciencenews.org/article/too-much-groundwater-pumping-draining-many-earth-rivers



    1. What do you think would happen past 2050 if we don’t solve this problem?

    2. Would we still be able to access enough freshwater if we slow down pumping from aquifers?

    3. What would be affected if we can’t access enough freshwater?




Comments

  1. I think past 2050 we would have little to no access to freshwater if we do not solve this problem. I think we would still have access to freshwater if we slowed down pumping from aquifers. If we can't access enough freshwater all living things that need freshwater will be affected. -Kevin Gu

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  2. If we don't solve this problem after 2050, we will probably have a fresh water crisis and not have enough for everyone to drink. - Steven Solomon

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  3. This will be a big problem in the future because it could severely dry up rivers and cause other harm to the ecosystem. We might be able to access freshwater but it will eventually get used. It's obviously not an ideal situation if we don't have enough freshwater. -Campbell Marino

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  4. This will be extremely dangerous to the world in the future. We need to do everything we can to stop this from coming to pass.

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  5. this is becoming extremely dangerous as time fly's by with wasting our resources, if we don't do something now to fix it then future generations will not have water. -Maddie Silk

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  6. people will start to die from thirst and countries may start using the water crisis as an advantage over others essential creating a water shortage war. -Ryan Smith

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  7. If we don't solve this we the population is going to go down and badly.

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  8. if we do not find a new way to make more freshwater by 2050 then we are going to have a serious problem. I think closer to 2050 more people would realized that there is a major problem to the world and they would find a solution. Population of all livings things would go down because most to all living things need water. Earth would slowly become just a rock. -Sophia Becklenberg

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  9. I think that if we didn't have solve this problem by 2050 the price of water would go up because water would become more scarce. Our food would also be affected if we didn't have access to water because we wouldn't be able to grow crops without freshwater. -Joe Panthalani

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  10. The population will suffer severely if we dont reverse this-Caleb

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  11. I think if we don't solve this problem after 2050, we probably won't have enough fresh water for everyone.

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  12. We will not have enough freshwater for everyone if this is not solved by 2050. sarah lachance

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  13. This sounds like a huge problem. We need to find a solution soon because water is essential for all life. If we run out of drinkable water that quickly, then many species run the risk of going extinct.

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  14. This is a problem that could affect us if not fixed, we could loose our a lot of our fresh water. -lannah

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  15. i saw something that said if we have to get water from other sources, it would cause a lot of carbon emissions which would badly affect the enviroment -sophia

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  16. If we do not do anything some of the water that we depend on will be lost. It surprises me that there are so many issues that threaten our water. -Erik E

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  17. If this problem remained unsolved in 2050, I think that the sea level would rise tremendously and there would be a significant lack of freshwater sources for animals living more inland causing those animals to perish. I don't think its necessary to continue pumping from fresh water sources other than for agriculture. With water processing and new advancements in technology, removing salt from water shouldn't be a concern if it still is. If it isn't a concern, there is absolutely no need for freshwater pumping. -Kendall Dees

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  18. If this is unresolved, major problems will occur in the future such as ocean level rising. Sarah LaChance

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  19. in 2050 i think most of the water will be gone -Ryan Carter

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  20. Whats weird is that we are having issues with rising sea levels but yet we also are having issues of groundwater draining. -Takia McMorris

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