Farm Progress America, February 1, 2024

Mike Pearson takes a look at ground water research completed by a group of researchers and the trends revealed.

Groundwater is an essential resource for agriculture, populated areas and ecosystems.

The research showed declining aquifers under certain cities and growing areas.

Scientists have been studying what causes aquifers to rise and fall.

A new study published last week in the journal, "Nature" was a joint project with research from USC-Santa Barbara, Rutgers, UCL- College of London, and the Swiss Federal Research Institute.

The study consisted of over 100,000 monitored well and aquifers.

The study found some ground water declines by 18 inches a year. The biggest losses were found in arid areas with heavy agriculture activity.

The author said the finding was a "matter of urgent concern."

However, the study results wasn't all bad.

There were ways aquifers were gaining water due to different interventions.

Some could could recharge by banning water use or taxing the water usage.

Another was inter-basin water fill-ups or deliberate recharges.

This has been done with the heavy rainfall and snowfall experienced in California in 2023.

Over 2.1 million acres were gained in California last year.

Farm Progress America is a daily look at key issues in agriculture. It is produced and presented by Mike Pearson, farm broadcaster and host of This Week in Agribusiness .