Study foresees water crisis in India

The water trapped in India’s soil is depleting at an alarming rate and will ultimately lead to a water crisis in the region, according to a study from UC Irvine and NASA hydrologists.

According to the study published in the Nature journal Wednesday, groundwater beneath Northern India has been receding as much as one foot per year for the last decade, and all because of humanity.

More than 26 cubic miles of groundwater disappeared from the region between 2002 and 2008. That’s more than double the amount of water in India’s largest water reservoir above ground, school officials said.

Groundwater there is used mostly for irrigation and takes longer to replenish than water above ground, researchers said. Groundwater comes from water seeping through the earth’s soil and rock and gathering in cavities beneath the ground.

Researchers reached their conclusion that humanity was responsible for the water’s rapid, unexpected consumption after they looked into rainfall, vegetation and water storage in the area and saw no changes.

The only cause they could not rule out was human, officials said.