IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v13y2022i1d10.1038_s41467-022-32954-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Modern groundwater reaches deeper depths in heavily pumped aquifer systems

Author

Listed:
  • Melissa Thaw

    (University of California)

  • Merhawi GebreEgziabher

    (University of California)

  • Jobel Y. Villafañe-Pagán

    (University of California
    University of Puerto Rico)

  • Scott Jasechko

    (University of California)

Abstract

Deep groundwater is an important source of drinking water, and can be preferable to shallower groundwaters where they are polluted by surface-borne contaminants. Surface-borne contaminants are disproportionately common in ‘modern’ groundwaters that are made up of precipitation that fell since the ~1950s. Some local-scale studies have suggested that groundwater pumping can draw modern groundwater downward and potentially pollute deep aquifers, but the prevalence of such pumping-induced downwelling at continental scale is not known. Here we analyse thousands of US groundwater tritium measurements to show that modern groundwater tends to reach deeper depths in heavily pumped aquifer systems. These findings imply that groundwater pumping can draw mobile surface-borne pollutants to deeper depths than they would reach in the absence of pumping. We conclude that intensive groundwater pumping can draw recently recharged groundwater deeper into aquifer systems, potentially endangering deep groundwater quality.

Suggested Citation

  • Melissa Thaw & Merhawi GebreEgziabher & Jobel Y. Villafañe-Pagán & Scott Jasechko, 2022. "Modern groundwater reaches deeper depths in heavily pumped aquifer systems," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-32954-1
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-32954-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-32954-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-022-32954-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Merhawi GebreEgziabher & Scott Jasechko & Debra Perrone, 2022. "Widespread and increased drilling of wells into fossil aquifers in the USA," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, December.
    2. Debra Perrone & Scott Jasechko, 2019. "Deeper well drilling an unsustainable stopgap to groundwater depletion," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 2(8), pages 773-782, August.
    3. Meredith, Elizabeth & Blais, Nicole, 2019. "Quantifying irrigation recharge sources using groundwater modeling," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 214(C), pages 9-16.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hrozencik, Aaron & Aillery, Marcel, 2021. "Trends in U.S. Irrigated Agriculture: Increasing Resilience Under Water Supply Scarcity," Economic Information Bulletin 327359, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    2. Hrozencik, Aaron & Aillery, Marcel, 2021. "Trends in U.S. Irrigated Agriculture: Increasing Resilience Under Water Supply Scarcity," USDA Miscellaneous 316792, United States Department of Agriculture.
    3. Dench, William E. & Morgan, Leanne K., 2021. "Unintended consequences to groundwater from improved irrigation efficiency: Lessons from the Hinds-Rangitata Plain, New Zealand," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    4. Merhawi GebreEgziabher & Scott Jasechko & Debra Perrone, 2022. "Widespread and increased drilling of wells into fossil aquifers in the USA," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, December.
    5. Nicostrato Perez & Vartika Singh & Claudia Ringler & Hua Xie & Tingju Zhu & Edwin H. Sutanudjaja & Karen G. Villholth, 2024. "Ending groundwater overdraft without affecting food security," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 7(8), pages 1007-1017, August.
    6. Mao, Wei & Zhu, Yan & Huang, Shuang & Han, Xudong & Sun, Guanfang & Ye, Ming & Yang, Jinzhong, 2024. "Assessment of spatial and temporal seepage losses in large canal systems under current and future water-saving conditions: A case study in the Hetao Irrigation District, China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 291(C).
    7. Lund, A.A. Rehman & Gates, Timothy K. & Scalia, Joseph, 2023. "Characterization and control of irrigation canal seepage losses: A review and perspective focused on field data," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 289(C).
    8. Bisrat Ayalew Yifru & Il-Moon Chung & Min-Gyu Kim & Sun Woo Chang, 2020. "Assessment of Groundwater Recharge in Agro-Urban Watersheds Using Integrated SWAT-MODFLOW Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-18, August.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-32954-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.