Climate Change affects earth’s groundwater reserves

LONDON: Climate change affects Earth”s groundwater reserves, which may not meet the water demand of the population in the future, according to a study published on specialized digital sites.

The experts, from the University of Cardiff in the United Kingdom, assure that the regions most affected by global warming and with reduced rainfall may be the first to suffer this phenomenon, which may manifest itself a century late.

Mark Cuthbert, leader of the research, noted that ‘only half of the earth’s groundwater currents respond within the 100-year human time scale’.

According to Cuthbert, it was shown that ‘underground systems take much longer to respond to climate change than surface water’.

The researcher pointed out that this ‘long legacy’ can be considered as ‘an environmental time bomb’ given that ‘any impact of climate change at this time on the replenishment of groundwater’ will manifest its consequences with full force for rivers and rivers. wetlands ‘a long time later’

Cuthbert said that ‘groundwater is out of sight and does not receive much attention’, and yet more than two billion people currently depend on this resource for both its consumption and for agricultural irrigation.

It is essential that governments take into account, when developing water use policies and strategies to adapt to climate change, these potential long-term ecological consequences.

The reserves of subterranean aquifers are stored in the soil and between rocks below the surface, it feed on rainwater to maintain their volume.

Courtesy: (plenglish.com)