Groundwater is rapidly declining in the Colorado River Basin, satellite data show

[Zorro]

• New research based on satellite data shows the depletion of groundwater in the Colorado River Basin far exceeds losses from the river’s reservoirs.

• Scientists say overpumping is leading to alarmingly rapid declines in groundwater at a time when climate change is putting growing strains on the Southwest’s water supplies.

As the Colorado River’s giant reservoirs have declined during the last two decades, even larger amounts of water have been pumped and drained from underground, according to new research based on data from NASA satellites.

Scientists at Arizona State University examined more than two decades of satellite measurements and found that since 2003 the quantity of groundwater depleted in the Colorado River Basin is comparable to the total capacity of Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir.

The researchers estimated that pumping from wells has drained about 34 cubic kilometers, or 28 million acre-feet, of groundwater in the watershed since 2003 — more than twice the amount of water that has been depleted from the river’s reservoirs during that time.

“The Colorado River Basin is losing groundwater at an alarming rate,” said Karem Abdelmohsen, the lead author and a researcher at ASU’s School of Sustainability.

https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2025-05-27/colorado-river-groundwater

[CousinIT]

1. How many states are sucking up water from the Colorado River? Nothing will be done until it's run dry.

They've known they are overtapping this resource for YEARS. Yet, they keep building, farming, and increasing dependence on it.

[Ol Janx Spirit]

2. Science is nothing compared to the magic Sharpie. Send in the magic Sharpie! /s

Last edited Tue May 27, 2025, 11:55 AM - Edit history (1)

[hatrack]

3. Well, yeah - that hay for Saudi dairy cattle isn't going to grow itself!!!

Oh no! Anyway . . . .

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona officials said a Saudi-owned company they targeted over its use of groundwater to grow forage crops is moving its farming operation out of a valley in the Southwestern state’s rural west. Gov. Katie Hobbs and the Arizona State Land Department announced late Thursday that Fondomonte Arizona is officially no longer pumping water in the Butler Valley groundwater basin. Some residents of La Paz County had complained that the company’s pumping was threatening their wells.

A statement by Hobbs says an on-site inspection had confirmed that Fondomonte was moving to vacate the property. Fondomonte has several other farms elsewhere in Arizona that are not affected by the decision. A call placed Friday seeking comment from Fondomonte’s Arizona office was not immediately returned.

Current Arizona regulations allow virtually unfettered groundwater pumping in the state’s rural areas.

Climate-challenged countries like Saudi Arabia have increasingly looked to faraway places like Arizona for the water and land to grow forage for livestock and commodities such as wheat for domestic use and export. They lost this specific operation, but groundwater pumping continues essentially without limitation in Arizona.

EDIT

https://apnews.com/article/arizona-groundwater-fondomonte-fc4e94a2b6b782d46f8ba3afb25548f5