Farmers Deplete Fossil Water in World's Breadbaskets:
Irrigation has helped farmers feed a population that has now reached 7 billion people . But in many places farmers have overused underground aquifers that have taken thousands of years to form, drawing down the fossil water much faster than it can be replaced. The Ogallala aquifer in the American high plains, along with similar aquifers in Mexico, Eastern Europe, Egypt, Arabia, Iran, India and China, represent the crisis zones for humanity’s groundwater footprint, according to a new analysis published in Nature on August 9. ( Scientific American is part of Nature Publishing Group.) Here’s what the world’s groundwater footprint looks like:
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