NASA study warns decline in availability of freshwater in India
What's the story
According to a first-of-its-kind study, using NASA satellite observations, India is among the hotspots where the overuse of water resources has caused a serious decline in availability of freshwater. The study, published in the journal Nature, found that Earth's wetland areas are getting wetter and dry areas are getting drier due to various factors including human water management.
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Middle east, California, and Australia also on the list
The Middle East, California, and Australia are also on the list. In northern India, groundwater extraction for irrigation of crops such as have caused a rapid decline in available water, despite normal rainfall.
14 years observation
14 years of observation in 34 regions around the world
The team used 14 years of observations from the US/German-led Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) spacecraft mission to track global trends in freshwater in 34 regions around the world. "This is the first time that we have used observations from multiple satellites in a thorough assessment of how freshwater availability is changing everywhere," said Matt Rodell of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
Freshwater change
More time to determine forces behind freshwater change: NASA
Jay Famiglietti of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory says that high latitudes and the tropics are the wetland areas getting wetter and the dry areas in between are getting drier. Embedded in the dry areas they see multiple hotspots resulting from groundwater depletion. He added that it will require more time and data to determine the driving forces behind other patterns of freshwater change.