A growing amount of freshwater is being drained from continents and flowing into oceans due to climate change, threatening global water availability. Researchers at Arizona State University used satellite gravity measurements to track changes in freshwater mass on continents between 2002 and 2024.
Their findings reveal alarming declines in freshwater in many regions, with dry areas expanding by over 800,000 square kilometers annually – roughly the size of the UK and France combined. Four “mega-drying” regions have been identified, where separate areas of freshwater loss have connected to form a drying swathe. These include northern Canada and Russia, driven by melting glaciers and permafrost, and two regions in the US Southwest and Central America, dominated by groundwater depletion from irrigation.
Groundwater depletion accounts for 68% of the decline in overall water storage, making it a major contributor to global freshwater shortages. As climate change exacerbates heat and drought, people are pumping more water, further increasing depletion. The situation highlights the urgent need for sustainable water management practices to address this growing concern.
Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2490008-we-are-undergoing-unprecedented-loss-of-freshwater-across-the-planet