Dr. Jay Famiglietti, Professor of Hydrology and Executive Director of the University of Saskatchewan Global Institute for Water Security recently published on ground water depletion in California.  Research was published in the journal Nature Communications*.

Groundwater provides half of the irrigation water supply required in California.  Although groundwater has been ‘managed’ since 2015, ground water tables have fallen sharply as denoted by dry wells and subsiding land.  Data from the NASA TRACE satellite show that the rate of groundwater depletion in the Central Valley has been accelerating since 2003 and attained 8.58 km3/yr. from 2019 to 2021 during the current mega-drought.  By comparison, groundwater depletion from 1961 to 2021 attained an average 0f 1.86 km3/yr. 

Groundwater losses in the Central Valley since 2003 have totaled 36 million acre-feet or about 1.3 times the water-storage capacity of Lake Mead, the Nation’s largest reservoir. This has implications for CAFOs including large dairy operations and egg-production complexes that use water for herds and flocks in addition to evaporative cooling, decontamination and processing.

Dr. Famiglietti noted, “We have a full-on crisis with California groundwater disappearing much faster than people realize.” 

*Liu Pang-Wei, Famiglietti, J.S. et al Groundwater depletion in California’s Central Valley accelerates during mega- drought. Nature Communications. 13: 7825 (2022)