A group of scientists from the United States and Switzerland drew attention to the alarming rate of groundwater depletion in many regions of the Earth, the study was published in the scientific journal Nature, Report informs.
Although groundwater remains a renewable resource, some aquifers can take decades to replenish.
Experts analyzed millions of groundwater level measurements from 170,000 wells located in more than 40 countries and compiled a map of fluctuations in water levels.
The results showed that groundwater levels have fallen since 2000 in many more places than they have risen. In many regions, the figure is declining by more than 50 centimeters per year. It occurs in Afghanistan, Chile, China, India, Iran, Mexico, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Spain and the southwestern United States.
An even more alarming finding is that in about a third of the areas studied, the rate of decline in groundwater levels is accelerating.
However, scientists have found that the process can be reversed. Residents of some regions have managed to replenish underground water reserves through local rivers, limiting the exploitation of aquifers and saturating the subsoil with surface water.