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Study: Third of Big Groundwater Basins in Distress

June 16, 2015
UC Irvine studies using NASA GRACE data find a third of Earth's largest groundwater basins are being rapidly depleted by human use, despite little data about how much water remains.

Groundwater storage trends for Earth's 37 largest aquifers from UCI-led study using NASA GRACE data (2003-2013). Of these, 21 have exceeded sustainability tipping points and are being depleted, with 13 considered significantly distressed, threatening regional water security and resilience.

GRACE is a collaborative endeavor involving the Center for Space Research at the University of Texas, Austin; NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.; the German Space Agency and Germany's National Research Center for Geosciences, Potsdam.

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