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Groundwater depletion in California’s Central Valley accelerates during megadrought

Author

Listed:
  • Pang-Wei Liu

    (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
    Science Systems and Applications, Inc)

  • James S. Famiglietti

    (University of Saskatchewan
    University of Saskatchewan
    Arizona State University)

  • Adam J. Purdy

    (California State University Monterey Bay)

  • Kyra H. Adams

    (California Institute of Technology)

  • Avery L. McEvoy

    (California Institute of Technology
    Rocky Mountain Institute)

  • John T. Reager

    (California Institute of Technology)

  • Rajat Bindlish

    (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)

  • David N. Wiese

    (California Institute of Technology)

  • Cédric H. David

    (California Institute of Technology)

  • Matthew Rodell

    (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)

Abstract

Groundwater provides nearly half of irrigation water supply, and it enables resilience during drought, but in many regions of the world, it remains poorly, if at all managed. In heavily agricultural regions like California’s Central Valley, where groundwater management is being slowly implemented over a 27-year period that began in 2015, groundwater provides two–thirds or more of irrigation water during drought, which has led to falling water tables, drying wells, subsiding land, and its long-term disappearance. Here we use nearly two decades of observations from NASA’s GRACE satellite missions and show that the rate of groundwater depletion in the Central Valley has been accelerating since 2003 (1.86 km3/yr, 1961–2021; 2.41 km3/yr, 2003–2021; 8.58 km3/yr, 2019–2021), a period of megadrought in southwestern North America. Results suggest the need for expedited implementation of groundwater management in the Central Valley to ensure its availability during the increasingly intense droughts of the future.

Suggested Citation

  • Pang-Wei Liu & James S. Famiglietti & Adam J. Purdy & Kyra H. Adams & Avery L. McEvoy & John T. Reager & Rajat Bindlish & David N. Wiese & Cédric H. David & Matthew Rodell, 2022. "Groundwater depletion in California’s Central Valley accelerates during megadrought," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-35582-x
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-35582-x
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. M. Rodell & J. S. Famiglietti & D. N. Wiese & J. T. Reager & H. K. Beaudoing & F. W. Landerer & M.-H. Lo, 2018. "Emerging trends in global freshwater availability," Nature, Nature, vol. 557(7707), pages 651-659, May.
    2. Matthew Rodell & Isabella Velicogna & James S. Famiglietti, 2009. "Satellite-based estimates of groundwater depletion in India," Nature, Nature, vol. 460(7258), pages 999-1002, August.
    3. Byron D. Tapley & Michael M. Watkins & Frank Flechtner & Christoph Reigber & Srinivas Bettadpur & Matthew Rodell & Ingo Sasgen & James S. Famiglietti & Felix W. Landerer & Don P. Chambers & John T. Re, 2019. "Contributions of GRACE to understanding climate change," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 9(5), pages 358-369, May.
    4. J. S. Famiglietti, 2014. "The global groundwater crisis," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 4(11), pages 945-948, November.
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    2. Victoria Junquera & Daniel I. Rubenstein & Simon A. Levin & Jos'e I. Hormaza & I~naki Vadillo P'erez & Pablo Jim'enez Gavil'an, 2024. "Hydrological collapse in southern Spain under expanding irrigated agriculture: Meteorological, hydrological, and structural drought," Papers 2408.00683, arXiv.org.

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