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The Future of Groundwater: A Fleeting Resource

Photo credit: https://www.britannica.com/science/groundwater

By Juliet Porter.

Climate scientists have discovered that Americans are using up groundwater faster than ever before in our history. Recently, the New York Times investigated this phenomenon by examining 84,544 monitoring wells, which trends have been examined since 1920. Approximately half of the wells examined have experienced decreasing water levels over the past 40 years as the rate at which water is being pumped out surpasses the water’s rate of replenishing.

In fact, from 2013 to 2023, ten of these wells reached their lowest water level ever recorded, with 2022 being the worst year on record. These statistics prompted the New York Times to further explore this issue by interviewing over 100 groundwater experts in the United States to inquire about the future of groundwater and its environmental justice implications of this crucial diminishing resource.

Drinking water in the United States originates from three major sources: surface water, reservoirs, and groundwater, which derives from aquifers, and recycled water, also known as reused water. Farming is a major source of groundwater usage. Thus, depleting groundwater not only affects public health but the economy as well. Vast, expansive farms and industrial cities are draining groundwater reserves. While groundwater is becoming increasingly unavailable, the rate at which it replenishes cannot keep up with demand. Unfortunately, drained reserves could take hundreds or even thousands of years to fully recover if they ever replenish at all. For this reason, depleting groundwater represents a serious threat that poses irreversible harm to our society. Simultaneously, rivers fed by groundwater are becoming streams, or nonexistent.

Disappearing groundwater has more adverse effects on certain states:

  • Kansas, a state that is a major aquifer that formerly supported 2.6 million acres of land, now is no longer capable of supporting industrial-scale agriculture;
  • New York, (Long Island) where the over-pumping of groundwater represents a threat to the longevity of drinking water wells;
  • Arizona, (Phoenix) which is one of the fastest-growing cities in America, currently there isn’t enough groundwater to build new houses that are reliant on aquifers; and
  • California, Utah, and Texas, also represent an overuse of groundwater and is causing roads to buckle, as foundations and fissures open-up.

Further exacerbating the issue of disappearing groundwater is the fact that there are little to no regulations addressing this topic. The federal government has shown that they have not addressed or played any role concerning this impending crisis. On the state level, there are few and far between rules on groundwater usage, and most of the existing laws are weak. In California, the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act was passed in 2014. This Act was intended to implement Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) for each Basin by 2017 and integrate Groundwater Sustainability Plans by 2020 or 2022. However, in March 2023, it was found that the GSAs were falling behind on their sustainability goals. This lack of attention and lack of government intervention has fed the issue of depleting groundwater. This has enabled aquifer draining practices, (i.e. over-relying on groundwater in rapidly growing urban areas like Phoenix, Arizona, and planting water-intensive crops, like alfalfa, in drought prone areas).

At the end of the day, everyone’s environment is threatened because of the depletion of groundwater and the lack of access to safe, clean drinking water. Sadly, this issue affects disadvantaged communities at a higher rate, and resolving this issue will be no easy feat, as irreversible damage has already been done. The future of groundwater is expected to be continuously depleted in the coming years, and this issue will change America’s water systems’ future.

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Monsanto to Pay D.C. $52 million Toward Chemical Contamination Cleanup in Local Waterways

For over 50 years during the 20th century, Monsanto produced and sold products that contained polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) which have been known to cause severe health problems in humans such as cancer and liver damage and kill wildlife. After many decades of polluting into local waterways and communities, Monsanto will be held accountable by paying the city of D.C. $52 million in order to help clean up chemical contamination that they caused. The majority of the money will go towards cleaning up polluted waterways with high PCB concentrations, specifically in the Potomac and Anacostia rivers. Read More
Photo by Desmond Hester on Unsplash

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$550M Settlement with Monsanto Includes the Cleanup of Contaminated Baltimore Waters

Bayer, the current parent company and owner of Monsanto, has reached a $550 million settlement with 13 governmental entities in order to clean up contaminated Baltimore waterways. Bayer officials claim that Monsanto legally manufactured PCBs until 1977. PCBs were widely used in paints, lubricants, and electrical equipment until they were banned in the US in 1979. Waterways in the Baltimore area have been greatly polluted by past PCB contamination. The national class-action settlement aims to make Bayer pay for the pollution caused by Monsanto’s use of PCBs. Similar Monsanto-related settlements involving PCB pollution have been reached in New Mexico, Washington, and the District of Columbia. Read More

Photo by Mabel Amber from Pexels

 

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Trump Administration Narrows Water Protections: Increases Risks of Drinking Water Contamination

The EPA redefined protections of water through its new navigable waters rule on June 22, one that largely cuts out storm water runoff from being regulated by the EPA. This change could have a large detrimental impact on drinking water quality in areas and could therefore result in greater human health risks. Thus far, the new rule went into effect in all states except Colorado, where a federal judge in Colorado was able to block the Trump administration’s narrowing definition of water protections. Read More
Photo by Suhel Nadaf on Unsplash

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New Jersey Increases PFAS Regulations to Help Make Drinking Water Safer

On Monday, June 1st, New Jersey became one of the few states in the US to regulate two specific types of PFAS—Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluoroalkyl sulfonic acid (PFOS) —that are known to be cancer-causing chemicals that contaminate drinking water. The chemicals are often found in nonstick cookware, waterproof apparel, and firefighting foam and have been tied to cancers and immune system issues. New Hampshire, Vermont, and New Jersey are currently the only states that regulate PFOA and PFOS in drinking water systems. This step to better ensure the environmental safety of drinking water is one that needs to be instituted throughout other states. Read More

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Lawsuits Raised Against New Federal Water Rule

A handful of environmental groups have filed lawsuits against the Trump administration’s finalization of a new rule that will weaken waterway protections set in place under the Obama Clean Water rule. Groups including the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and ShoreRivers filed lawsuits in Baltimore on April 27 and the Southern Environmental Law Group, representing numerous other environmental organizations, filed suit on April 29. Most recently, a coalition of 19 states, including Maryland, Virginia, and New York have filed a lawsuit to encourage a new rule that will ensure the protection of the United States’ water systems. Read More.

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Environmental Groups Sue the Trump Administration for Waterway Protections

Environmental groups, including the Natural Resource Defense Council and Southern Environmental Law Center, have filed suit against the Trump administration, “challenging a rollback of protections for the nation’s waterways.” In January 2020, the EPA finalized the Navigable Waters Protection Rule that puts a limit on how much the government can regulate protections for smaller waterways. Environmental groups have argued that by limiting regulations on smaller water systems, more harm will come downstream to the larger bodies of water. Read More.

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Is Climate Change Making Shellfish Toxic?

The Alaskan Alutiiq, an indigenous tribe residing on the Alaskan coast, has long relied on shellfish for food. Recent instances have found that some shellfish has become contaminated by a natural occurring poison that can lead to paralytic shellfish poisoning. This reactive condition could become more frequent as water temperatures rise and toxin production increases. Read More. 

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Long Island Receives Grant Money to Clean Up Water Contamination

New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced that the state’s Environmental Facilities Corporation will direct $120 million in grant money towards assisting Long Island and villages’ water plans. Included is the Village of Mineola that currently has three major water system projects underway to help meet 1,4-dioxin and PFAS treatment requirements. 23 total grants have been given out to Long Island and villages to assist in water remediation projects. Read More.

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A Brief Look at Minden, WV

Minden, West Virginia has begged for the cleanup of its town from PCB contamination for over thirty years. In 2019, hope was found among community members when the Superfund site was placed on the EPA’s NPL list. Yet, movement for either cleanup or relocation remains stagnant. Read more about the background of contamination in Minden and the current status of its residents as they continue to fight for cleanup. Read More.