Thirsty grains may lead to hungry humans. A Hydrologist, in Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado, Inge de Graaf. Developed a model that could stimulate the regional groundwater dynamics and withdrawals from 1960 to 2100.
Graaf reaserch predicts groundwater scarcity
She found out that California's agricultural powerhouses,Central Valley, Tulare Basin and southern San Joaquin Valley that produces an enormous amount of food supply may run out of ground water in the 2030s. India, Spain and Italy could also dry up in the 2040s to the 2060s.
Graaf presented results of her research last week, in American Geophysical Union conference in San Francisco. She stated, that those that are soonest to dry up, are those that has a lot of consumers and less of groundwaters available.
According to National Geographic, since 1960 excessive usage of groundwater has been happening worldwide. Graaf added, with the rapid increase of population and the global warming, groundwater supply will ascend. This will cause the water level in aquifers to drop below 300 feet. This will mean that users may have a hard time to pump up more water from it.
Satellite observations found out who are behind the excessive usage of ground water
Based on a study in 2015, via satellite observations, 21 out of 37 large aquifers, all over the world, tend to drain faster than they can refill. Researcher Carole Dalin reported that Pakistan, India and United States are the ones accountable for the two-thirds of the excessive use of ground waters.
Tim Benton of the United Kingdom's Global Food Security Program in a 12 February panel discussion at the 2016 AAAS Annual Meeting stated that there is no assurance that this thing will happen but there are possibilities that it will. He added that climate change may lead to more intense storms and floods to heat waves and droughts.
Benton is also working with the government to work on how to prepare for the upcoming drought and scarcity of the supply of food. Researchers are calling for an international action that may deal with this problems. Including warning systems and informational systems.
