Global water resources and the role of groundwater in a resilient water future

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | January 31st, 2023

Water is a critical resource, but ensuring its availability faces challenges from climate extremes and human intervention. In this Review, we evaluate the current and his

Water is a critical resource, but ensuring its availability faces challenges from climate extremes and human intervention. In this Review, we evaluate the current and historical evolution of water resources, considering surface water and groundwater as a single, interconnected resource. Total water storage trends have varied across regions over the past century. Satellite data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) show declining, stable and rising trends in total water storage over the past two decades in various regions globally. Groundwater monitoring provides longer-term context over the past century, showing rising water storage in northwest India, central Pakistan and the northwest United States, and declining water storage in the US High Plains and Central Valley. Climate variability causes some changes in water storage, but human intervention, particularly irrigation, is a major driver. Water-resource resilience can be increased by diversifying management strategies. These approaches include green solutions, such as forest and wetland preservation, and grey solutions, such as increasing supplies (desalination, wastewater reuse), enhancing storage in surface reservoirs and depleted aquifers, and transporting water. A diverse portfolio of these solutions, in tandem with managing groundwater and surface water as a single resource, can address human and ecosystem needs while building a resilient water system.

GRACE satellite observations reveal the severity of recent water over-consumption in the United States

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | August 18th, 2017

Changes in the climate and population growth will critically impact the future supply and demand of water, leading to large uncertainties for sustainable resour

Changes in the climate and population growth will critically impact the future supply and demand of water, leading to large uncertainties for sustainable resource management. In the absence of on-the-ground measurements to provide spatially continuous, high-resolution information on water supplies, satellite observations can provide essential insight. Here, we develop a technique using observations from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite to evaluate the sustainability of surface water and groundwater use over the continental United States. We determine the annual total water availability for 2003–2015 using the annual variability in GRACE-derived total water storage for 18 major watersheds. The long-term sustainable water quantity available to humans is calculated by subtracting an annual estimate of the water needed to maintain local ecosystems, and the resulting water volumes are compared to reported consumptive water use to determine a sustainability fraction. We find over-consumption is highest in the southwest US, where increasing stress trends were observed in all five basins and annual consumptive use exceeded 100% availability twice in the Lower Colorado basin during 2003–2015. By providing a coarse-scale evaluation of sustainable water use from satellite and ground observations, the established framework serves as a blueprint for future large-scale water resource monitoring.

Gravelley Ford Water District Groundwater Sustainability Plan

Gravelly Ford Water District (GFWD) | August 12th, 2019

Ground water in Pahrump, Mesquite, and Ivanpah Valleys, Nevada and California

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) | July 1st, 1921

Ground Water in the Redding Basin, Shasta and Tehama Counties, California

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) | December 31st, 1983

The Redding Basin covers about 510 square miles in the northern part of the Central Valley of California and is surrounded by the Cascade Range, Klamath Mountains,and Coa

The Redding Basin covers about 510 square miles in the northern part of the Central Valley of California and is surrounded by the Cascade Range, Klamath Mountains,and CoastRanges. It is separated from the main part of the valley by the Red Bluff Arch, a subsurface geologic structure. Ground water in the Redding Basin is obtained principally from wells tapping continental deposits of Tertiary and (or) Quaternary age. These deposits are arranged in a synclinal structure that trends and plunges south- ward. They are deposited on the Chico Formation, a marine sedimentary unit, and a basement complex composed of older igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks. Recharge to the Redding ground-water basin is from subsurface inflow; infiltration of precipitation and applied irrigation water; and percolation from stream san dcreeks.

Ground Water in White River Valley, White Pine, Nye, and Lincoln Counties, Nevada

State of Nevada | July 1st, 1949

Ground-water conditions and potential for artificial recharge in Lucerne Valley, San Bernardino County, California

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) | January 2nd, 1979

Ground-water conditions at Beale Air Force Base and vicinity, California

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) | April 15th, 1980

The U.S. Geological Survey was asked by the Air Force to make a study of ground-water conditions at the base. This report and an earlier data report have resulted

The U.S. Geological Survey was asked by the Air Force to make a study of ground-water conditions at the base. This report and an earlier data report have resulted from the study. The purpose of the study was to appraise the ground-water resource in the vicinity of Beale Air Force Base with regard to source, occurrence, movement, and chemical quality. This information will be used in the long-term management of the water supply for the base. The scope of the study included identifying zones of poor-quality water that could affect the base water supply and providing suggestions for changes in pumping, well construction, and well-site selection that would improve the reliability of the water supply. Source material included drillers' logs, chemical analyses of ground water, water-level records, pumpage records, and previously published reports for the area.

Ground-Water Conditions in Las Vegas Valley, Clark County, Nevada, Part 1, Hydrogeologic Framework

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) | July 1st, 1989

Click here for Part 2

Click here for Part 2

Ground-Water Conditions in Las Vegas Valley, Clark County, Nevada, Part 2, Hydrogeology and Simulation of Ground-Water Flow

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) | July 1st, 1996

Click here for part 1

Click here for part 1