When there are crops to grow and no rain to help grow them, farmers and irrigators turn to groundwater. It's a story all over the country, and our understanding of the long-term effects of pumping groundwater are limited.
It's clear that taking water from underground aquifers depletes those aquifers over time, but the effects on streams and evaporation to the atmosphere are less well understood. Now comes research that models the broader effects of groundwater extraction, demonstrating the impacts. Researchers Laura Condon from the University of Arizona and Reed Maxwell from the Colorado School of Mines join us with details.