"World’s Aquifers Being Badly Depleted, Satellite Data Show"

"California’s drought has put the great Central Valley aquifer system under critical stress, but many of the world’s major groundwater basins are in far worse shape, a new satellite survey has found.

Water researchers surveyed 37 of the world’s largest underground aquifers and report that at least eight of them are now dangerously “overstressed” because their water is being drained by heavy use much faster than it is being replenished.

Five other major aquifers are also severely stressed, but not as critically, the survey found. Among them is the one beneath the Central Valley, where the drought has increased heavy pumping as farmers try to save their thirsty crops."

David Perlman reports for the San Francisco Chronicle June 17, 2015.
 
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"NASA Water Data Shows Overstressed Basins Across the World" (AP)