NEW DEHLI/JALANDHAR
India is close to reaching its groundwater depletion tipping point, a new report published by the United Nations University — Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) — has warned.
The report ‘Interconnected Disaster Risks Report 2023’, which looks at six environmental tipping points — accelerating extinctions, groundwater depletion, mountain glacier melting, space debris, unbearable heat, and an uninsurable future — has also found that 27 of the world’s 31 major aquifers are depleting faster than they can be replenished.
According to the report, 78% of wells in Punjab are considered overexploited, and the north-western region as a whole is predicted to experience critically low groundwater availability by 2025.
Environmental tipping points are critical thresholds in the Earth’s systems beyond which abrupt and often irreversible changes occur, leading to profound and sometimes catastrophic shifts in ecosystems, climate patterns, and the overall environment, the report states.
Groundwater is an essential freshwater resource stored in underground reservoirs called “aquifers”. “These aquifers supply drinking water to over two billion people, and around 70% of withdrawals are used for agriculture. However, more than half of the world’s major aquifers are being depleted faster than they can replenish naturally. As groundwater accumulates over thousands of years, it is essentially a non-renewable resource,” the report said.
The tipping point in this case is reached when the water table falls below a level that existing wells can access. Once crossed, farmers will no longer have access to groundwater to irrigate their crops. “This not only puts farmers at risk of losing their livelihood but can also lead to food insecurity and put entire food production systems at risk of failure,” it added.
Around 30% of the world’s freshwater is stored as groundwater and occasionally brought to the surface through springs, lakes, or streams, or is extracted from wells drilled into the aquifer.
Groundwater depletion rates worldwide have accelerated since the mid-20th century, the report said, to the extent that “groundwater is a non-trivial contributor to sea level rise”.
“The excessive groundwater pumping has also caused the Earth’s axis to tilt 4.36 cm per year. The regions where groundwater depletion is most severe include parts of India, north-eastern China, western United States, Mexico, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and parts of northern Africa, ’it said.
“Some regions, like Saudi Arabia, have already surpassed this groundwater risk tipping point… Other countries, like India, are not far from approaching this risk tipping point, too, ’it added.
Agricultural intensification is a major factor pushing us towards a groundwater depletion risk tipping point with groundwater irrigation sustaining the production of approximately 40 percent of the world’s crops, including a large portion of staple crops like rice and wheat.