"Even as groundwater levels have rapidly declined in farming regions from California’s Central Valley to the High Plains, the federal government has mostly taken a hands-off approach to the chronic depletion of the nation’s aquifers. But in a new report for the White House, scientists say the country is facing serious and unprecedented groundwater challenges that call for the federal government to play a larger role.
Members of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology said the country needs better data to provide a comprehensive picture of how much groundwater there is and how fast it is being depleted. The scientists called for a national effort to advance strategies for safeguarding aquifers, including establishing a federal program that would provide incentives to encourage states and communities to manage underground water supplies sustainably.
“The current rate of groundwater pumping exceeds that of natural recharge,” the council said in the report. “Much of the water in the major aquifers in the U.S. is fossil water, 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, mostly from agricultural withdrawal.”"
Ian James reports for the Los Angeles Times December 20, 2024.
Advertisement 
