2011年9月16日星期五

What are three human caused environmental problems associated with removing groundwater in excess?

Obviously draining an aquifer of freshwater available for human and environmental use. Subsidence, which is when the pressure within an aquifer is no longer sufficient to support the weight of the overburden, and you get sinkholes, and all sorts of large, damaging cracks in the ground. This is a major problem in the Tuscon area. If you drain an aquifer near the coast, you could lower it enough that seawater flows in, permanently contaminating it, so even if you stopped pumping and waited for it to recharge, it would be next to impossible to get anything good from it. These are all genuine, serious problems that we're all currently faced with, which is especially frightening when you consider that we (as in, the human race) get the vast majority of our potable and agricultural water from aquifers that are right this moment being pumped dry. It is no longer a renewable resource, the way that we're currently using it.

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