News
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With its low quantities of rain and soaring high temperatures, the Sahara Desert is often regarded as one of the most extreme and least habitable environments on Earth. While the Sahara was periodically much greener in the distant past, an ancient society living in a climate very similar to today’s... read more...
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Potentially harmful synthetic chemicals known as PFAS, or forever chemicals, have been found at almost half of the 500 groundwater monitoring sites in Switzerland. But Swiss limit values were only exceeded at one station, according to the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN). Find out more https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/-forever-chemicals–detected-at-half-of-swiss-groundwater-sites/48884684 read more...
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Scientists have identified a growing problem in the Great Barrier Reef that is likely, they say, to be a cause for concern when considering the region’s health. A new study has uncovered a hitherto unknown impact on the reef’s health: groundwater. Researchers used radium isotope tracing to monitor nutrient proportions... read more...
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In the face of rising urbanisation, climate change, weather variability and resource degradation, hydrogeologists from around the world gathered in Cape Town this week to chart a way forward on water security, using a hidden treasure underneath our feet — groundwater. About 500 groundwater experts from 52 countries around the... read more...
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The US has pumped so much groundwater that it’s literally splitting the ground open across the American Southwest. When too much groundwater gets pumped up from the natural aquifers below the surface, it causes the land to sag and create these cracks. These giant cracks, or fissures, have been spotted... read more...
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Many of the aquifers that supply 90 percent of the USA’s water systems, and which have transformed vast stretches into some of the world’s most bountiful farmland, are being severely depleted. An investigation by the New York Times shows how groundwater resources are being exhausted in much of the country,... read more...
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Groundwater — fresh water stored underneath the earth and accessed mostly by wells — has always played a significant role in arid Middle East countries. Because it’s underground, it isn’t as impacted by drought and heat , and it’s the main source of fresh water for at least 10 Arab... read more...
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Local leaders, struggling to get wealthy residents to abide by water restrictions, are calling for the EU and national governments to help control water demand with measures ranging from rethinking water pricing systems to overhauling how drinking water is distributed between residential homes, industry and agriculture. According to the European... read more...
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In recent decades, aquaculture has proliferated in Armenia’s Ararat Valley. The heightened use of water, combined with a warming climate and increased drought, has led to groundwater reserves shrinking by two-thirds, once-bountiful farms withering, and wells going dry. Find out more https://e360.yale.edu/features/armenia-fish-farms-groundwater-agriculture read more...
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After devastating wildfires ravaged through Indonesia’s tropical peatlands in 2015 and left more than $16 billion in damages, the country launched an ambitious plan to restore this key ecosystem. This is part of the government’s climate strategy. The definition of “restoration” is taken to be when groundwater levels have been... read more...