On: Afghan opium growers have switched to solar power

[danbruc]

Is there a real risk of depleting groundwater reservoirs making this non-sustainable?

[LeanderK → danbruc]

at the end of the article:

> So much water is now being used that ground water levels in Helmand are estimated to be falling by 3m a year. The fear is that pretty soon the water will simply run out. "Maybe this boom will not last longer than 10 years," says Orzala Nemat, who runs the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit, the country's biggest think tank.

[posterboy → LeanderK]

this rate factors in growth. it says nothing about the rate once market settles.

The fear, i guess, must be that a lot of the water doesn't come back to the aquifier.

[mschuster91 → danbruc]

Of course it is, and not just in Afghanistan. The US is at risk (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/8/140819-ground...), and even Europe is not safe (https://eos.org/articles/southern-europes-groundwater-use-wi...).

To make it worse: when groundwater gets depleted, there is a very real risk that the soil on top collapses/compresses, so even if there were enough rain the aquifers would physically be unable to retain the water (https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/scie....

[rob74 → danbruc]

That was my first thought too: at least by using solar power the opium farmers are not polluting the environment and generating CO2, but that benefit is tiny compared to the damage done by depleting the groundwater. And that in turn pales in comparison to the corruption and political instability caused by the drug industry and what that means for the country.