Overview

• Uninhibited pumping of groundwater accounts for 68 percent of total freshwater losses at the latitudes where most people live.
• Nearly 6 billion people across 101 countries face net declines in terrestrial water storage, representing 75 percent of the global population.
• Since a 2014 tipping point, dry areas have expanded by roughly twice the size of California each year as isolated hotspots merged into four continental-scale regions.
• Runoff from pumped groundwater now contributes more to sea level rise than melting glaciers and polar ice sheets combined.
• Researchers warn that these trends pose acute risks to agriculture, food and water security and call for coordinated international groundwater management policies.