Thursday, August 9, 2012

Here's Where Farms Are Sucking The Planet Dry

                     Check out some of the world's most important - and threatened - aquifers. Click to see a high-resolution version of this map.
          Our underwater resources have been shrinking for quite some time. These water sources provide a lot of our drinking water but some are discontented to find out that we are losing water. Some people point the blame towards farmers. 
          The colored areas in the picture above shows the world's largest aquifers. The color blue represents aquifers that are getting more rainfall in than water is getting pumped out. However, those that are yellow, orange, and red are aquifers that are losing water faster than it can replace it.
          A lot of this water is going towards farmers so that they can irrigate their crops. During times of drought, farmers pump out even more water to make up for the missing rain, depleting our aquifers that much faster. Isn't there a technique that we can teach to farmers so that they can water their crops more efficiently rather than drenching them and leaving less water for us?

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/08/08/158417396/heres-where-farms-are-sucking-the-planet-dry

1 comment:

  1. I,m not sure what the answer is here. It seems there will alsways be an issue between the need for food and the water required to grow it. Unfortunately, aquifers appear to be the only water avaialable in many parts of the world. Plus, reading some of the other articles, we seem to be headed for a reduction in rain which reduces our chances of refill.

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