It’s been three years since I complained that no one seems to be paying attention to our water resources.  No, I don’t mean like the drought in California.  That’s bad.   But, worse will be the wars that are about to fought over water.

I mentioned three years ago that China has been burrowing its way into Southeast Asia’s water supply for decades.   So, now it, in essence, controls the water in Cambodia, VietNam, Bangladesh, among other countries.

And, now we know that our underground water aquifers are draining dry.  You can see where these worst places are- they are “circled” on the map. (This data was developed by NASA since 2003, using their ‘GRACE’ satellite system.  This works because water changes the Earth’s gravitational pull on the orbiting vessel- providing a means to measure the volume of underground water.)

It seems that 21 of the 37 largest aquifers in the world have passed the point of no-return.   That means we are draining water faster from these aquifers than nature is able to refill them now.  (The aquifers generally get refilled by rainfall and snowmelt- and that takes centuries or longer.  However, we can purify our wastewater and reinject it underground as a faster mechanism.   But, we better be sure that the wastewater is really purified!)  This is not a one year phenomenon- it’s decades old.  It will only get worse.

Yes, there is water in our oceans.  But that is salty- and unfit to drink.   35% or so of all the water humans employ is drawn from aquifers.  But, that’s a worldwide average.   Right now, California is drawing down 60% of its aquifer capacity!  (That’s because the rivers and reservoirs have basically run dry. Prior to this ‘catastrophe’, the usage was only 40%.)

And, part of our drawdown is to supply mining and energy demands.  For example the westernmost aquifer in Australia is dangerously low (3^rd highest depletion rate in the world) due to iron/gold mining and oil and gas exploration in the Canning Basin.  Yet, the Great Artesian Basin in eastern Australia is among the world’s healthiest.

And, as I’ve written, the Middle East is a tinderbox not just because of Jews and Arabs fighting one another- but because of water shortages.  The world’s most stressed aquifer is the Arabian, supplying (or not) some 60 million people.  It’s being depleted- and, given that it’s situated in a desert (virtually no rain or snowfall), its replenishment is virtually nil.

In the US, it shouldn’t surprise a soul that the Central Valley Aquifer is the most troubled.  California- and it farming industry- are stripping it dry right now to counteract the overland drought.  And, new regulations that will guard this resource won’t really take full effect for a decade or so (since the existing wells are already dug and being used).   The other regions in the US under stress are the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains sources.   As you can see from the map, this affected area stretches from Virginia to Florida along the East Coast.

As if global warming (places near the equator get drier and the extreme latitudes are receiving heavier rains) wasn’t going to flood our coastal regions, some 40% of the sea-level rise that is seen around the world is coming from aquifer drawdown.

Looks like our oceanfront property is about to find new boundaries.

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