Groundwater development stress: Global-scale indices compared to regional modeling

Groundwater
By: , and 

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Abstract

The increased availability of global datasets and technologies such as global hydrologic models and the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites have resulted in a growing number of global-scale assessments of water availability using simple indices of water stress. Developed initially for surface water, such indices are increasingly used to evaluate global groundwater resources. We compare indices of groundwater development stress for three major agricultural areas of the United States to information available from regional water budgets developed from detailed groundwater modeling. These comparisons illustrate the potential value of regional-scale analyses to supplement global hydrological models and GRACE analyses of groundwater depletion. Regional-scale analyses allow assessments of water stress that better account for scale effects, the dynamics of groundwater flow systems, the complexities of irrigated agricultural systems, and the laws, regulations, engineering, and socioeconomic factors that govern groundwater use. Strategic use of regional-scale models with global-scale analyses would greatly enhance knowledge of the global groundwater depletion problem.

Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Groundwater development stress: Global-scale indices compared to regional modeling
Series title Groundwater
DOI 10.1111/gwat.12578
Volume 56
Issue 2
Year Published 2018
Language English
Publisher Wiley
Contributing office(s) California Water Science Center
Description 10 p.
First page 266
Last page 275
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