Groundwater Depletion

Humanity's hidden water crisis is underground. Groundwater — water stored in subterranean aquifers — supplies drinking water for over two billion people and irrigates roughly forty percent of the world's cropland. In many regions, we are pumping it far faster than rain can replenish it.

In India, groundwater depletion is a full-scale emergency. Over sixty percent of irrigated agriculture depends on groundwater, and water tables drop by one to three meters per year in some states. At current rates, several major aquifers will be functionally exhausted within two decades.