WiNK

Will we have water and where?

(Hint start looking underground)

When we think of available water you may think of a lake or a river, but have you ever considered the water levels under the earth's surface? To measure the amount of water there is and will be available in the future we need to understand water tables.

According to National Geographic "A water table is an underground boundary between the soil surface and the area where groundwater saturates spaces between sediments and cracks in rock. Water pressure and atmospheric pressure are equal at this boundary." To simplify that, it is an underground body of water.

During the summer it is natural for the water tables to drop but now the water tables are dropping deeper. In some cases, they are not rising back up to their "Normal" positions. In recent years water tables usually drop on average 10-15 meters, but with global warming, the water tables are now dropping 20- 30 meters.

Why are they dropping?

In recent years water tables have been dropping significantly because of climate change. With climate change, it is a loss of snow and precipitation in general that is impacting the water underground.

Climate change is not the only factor that is influencing water tables. Another big factor is how humans are extracting water. When water is not extracted through a well in a sustainable manner, the water table may drop permanently. Sadly this is already being seen around the world. Some of the largest sources of groundwater are being depleted in India, China, and the United States to the point where they cannot be replenished. This happens because the rate of groundwater extraction through wells is higher than the rate of replenishment from precipitation.

This is extremely important. The New York Times did a study and they found that by 2030 a quarter of humanity will be facing a water shortage. In Cape Town, South Africa they have been in a three-year drought. Sadly two months ago they announced Day Zero, which means that now they are forced to take extraordinary measures to ration what little it had left in its reservoirs.

(Day Zero in Cape Town, South Africa)

Hopefully, this situation may not happen to us but if we don't respond to a climate emergency now we could also be without water. Without water, we are without life.

Everything we know to be living needs water, including us humans. Without water we have no agriculture, no forests, no animals, no birds and the earth will be a lonely place.

If you need to get more information or have any doubts I would recommend these climate change documentaries.

1. Chasing Ice
2. Before the Flood hosted and produced by Leonardo DiCaprio
3. An Inconvenient Truth hosted by former VP of the USA Al Gore
4. Ice on fire