In India, the faucets run for an hour or two per day. That’s when the wells run dry. Villagers line up at spigots hoping to fill their water jugs. Farming has become increasingly difficult. The underground water aquifers are being depleted at a rapid rate. New wells are being drilled but many are unable to reach the water depths.
Read more here: How unchecked pumping is sucking aquifers dry in India
PASO ROBLES, California – Two decades ago, the rolling hills of Paso Robles were mostly covered with golden grass and oak trees. Now the hills and valleys are blanketed with more than 32,000 acres of grapevines.
Surging demand for wine has brought an explosion of vineyards, and along with it heavy pumping of groundwater. With the water table dropping, many people have had to cope as their taps have sputtered and their wells have gone dry.
Read more here: California in overdraft
Around the world, the water crisis is worsening. Groundwater aquifers, which supply many people with potable water for human consumption and agriculture, are being depleted much faster than they are being replenished.
USA Today recently published a series on the groundwater depletion, looking at the global crisis with stories from around the world. The series includes research from NASA’s GRACE satellites, led by Professor Jay Famiglietti of the University of California, Irvine and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Read more here: Pumped Dry
Water Generating System’s commercial unit, the WGS-900, arrived today at our Engineering and Technical Support facility in St. Petersburg, Fla. Capable of producing up to 600 gallons of potable water per day, this unit will be installed at the Florida office for demonstrations, maintenance and performance tests, and, of course, water production.
Stay tuned for more information!
An analysis of U.S. aquifers shows that groundwater depletion is worsening and threatening the livelihood of the agricultural industry in the Midwest. Water is being pumped from underground aquifers faster than can be replenished by rain- and snow-fall.
Read more here: Pumped beyond limits, many U.S. aquifers in decline
‘A new analysis of global water use, focused on large-scale diversions for agriculture and electric power, finds that precipitation is failing to replenish water lost from many of the world’s largest river basins.
If these deficits are fairly counted as human use, two Swedish scientists argue in a paper published last week in the journal Science, then current estimates underestimate human freshwater consumption by a factor of five – and actual use may already exceed a widely accepted upper limit of sustainability.’
Read more here: Remember the water cycle from junior high? It doesn’t work that way anymore
Want to know more about the waterways in your area? Take a look at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s website to learn the condition of local water sources.
The site is available here: How’s My Waterway?
Climate change has become a hot topic due to the recent COP-21 negotiations being held in Paris. It’s hard to believe some people are still denying the existence of climate change, particularly when 40 percent of the world’s population is directly effected by climate change on a daily basis. Climate change has been linked to water shortages, low rainfall, drought, famine and energy supply issues.
The Huffington Post’s article, “The Vicious Circle of Climate Change and Water Scarcity”, discusses the issues and how climate change impacts water scarcity globally.
Read more here: The Vicious Circle of Climate Change and Water Scarcity
In his new book, “Back to the Well: Rethinking the Future of Water,” author Marq de Villiers re-thinks the world’s water crisis. Separating the crisis into two problem areas, water shortages caused by drought and shortages caused by contamination, de Villiers argues that the shortages should be solved at a local level with local solutions.
One example is Windhoek, Namibia, where officials orchestrated the first operation to recycle the city’s wastewater into drinking water.
Read more here: Water problems need local solutions
Minnesota explorer Ann Bancroft is bringing attention to the global water crisis by trekking 1,600 miles across the globe. The expedition will take her and her team through countries in desperate need of water, including: India, Israel, South Africa and Chile. The goal of the expedition is to draw attention to ‘highlight water’s central role in life.’
Read more here: Minnesota explorer Ann Bancroft tackling water crisis. First stop: India
