America Is Using Up Its Groundwater Like There’s No Tomorrow

Fun fact: there will be no tomorrow when the water runs dry

Tbf there very well could be no tomorrow

In general: bad.

But the lion's share of that groundwater is going to agriculture, and much of it specifically to animal feed, so unlike with carbon emissions, this feels like the sort of environmental disaster that market forces are at least going to be somewhat responsive to; less groundwater -> spike in alfalfa prices -> spike in beef prices -> people eat less beef -> people use less groundwater.

Paywall.

the west coast is especially fucked.

there was never enough ground water and there never will be.

this isn't helping: https://www.businessinsider.com/arizona-saudi-arabia-fondomonte-butler-valley-water-residents-cut-off-2023-7?op=1

I'm grateful you folks are doing something to combat the rising water levels.

^(/s just in case)^

Plenty of groundwater in New Zealand, once the only economic class of people our society has agreed matters (or we'd stop them) have finished sucking us dry in every conceivable way.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/sep/04/super-rich-prepper-bunkers-apocalypse-survival-richest-rushkoff

Lol, it's nice to see nothing has changed in 20 years. Good job conservatives.

Ok idea: any town that is willing to give up land for solar power can earmark 90% of the power from it to run pumps and desalination to get them water.

Can someone ELI5 where the water actually goes when it's used? It evaporates and goes somewhere else, right? So the drier one place gets, the more wet a different place needs to get because the earth is a closed system.

So where does water from the US go when it's used and/or evaporated?

https://newspark.news/domestic/the-ogallala-aquifer-a-case-against-capitalism/

Here’s an article on the ogalala

Oh nooooooo! Will someone please think of all the shit turds in those red states! Just kidding. I'll happily use my 2nd amendment to keep you inbred fucks away from our water :)