
Thirsty Cities Drill for Water - kawera
https://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/thirsty-cities-drill-water
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mr_overalls
Rapidly depleting groundwater aquifers are a slow-moving, but impending
humanitarian disaster.

In particular, Western US states have seen particularly rapid depletion in
recent years that could threaten the viability of cities and agriculture in
the coming decades.

Popsci overview: Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner
[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56140.Cadillac_Desert](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56140.Cadillac_Desert)

USGS Report:
[https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2013/5079/](https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2013/5079/)

Fictional horrorshow: The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi

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e40
Came here to say this. Kudos on the links.

I'll just add: and with fracking, it only gets worse. 500+ chemicals injected
into the aquifer, that took millions of years to become what it is... it's
hubris thinking this isn't a problem.

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piyh
Fracking is about 5000 ft down, aquifers are generally 500 to 2000. What's the
mechanism for the contamination?

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e40
You just pointed out that the drilling is through the aquifer. And, as pointed
out, they reinject waste products. Does anyone believe there is zero
contamination?

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Latteland
Yes, of course there can be contamination, but it's not guaranteed. First, you
are drilling through the ground water. Second, you broke through those layers
to go do. Hopefully the tech and practices in the field prevent this. But we
know it does happen because some people have had their water ruined. Plus, we
know it has strong potential because of state legislatures being encouraged to
make laws protecting the drillers ( _not the home owners_ ).

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akshayB
Ground water depletion is a big problem. The issue generally is whenever lower
level ground water is cannibalized without giving it enough time to replenish
water level tends to go deeper. This turns into a vicious cycle and destroys
the ecosystem it sustains on the surface. Many parts of India people are
drilling 500+ ft. to tap into ground water and now that everyone is forced to
dig even deeper.

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pixl97
Should throw in a mention of land subsidence too

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akshayB
Yeah land subsidence is also big in so many places and can cause permanent
structural damage to the building or infrastructure.

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g8oz
Groundwater use by cities is more economically productive than it's use by
agriculture. The former should be privileged in the inevitable allocation
conflicts.

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btbuildem
If you price farmers out of the water market, they will produce less food. Can
you imagine what happens when we start having large scale food shortages?

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sufiyan
You just don't know about sustainable agriculture and drip irrigation. So,
your comment isn't well informed. We won't have a good shortage. The smart
farmers will figure a way out.

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adrianmonk
How do you know whether they know about drip irrigation?

