: How India’s depleting groundwater levels are changing the shape of the land above #IndiaNEWS Beneath the vast, fertile northern plains of India, groundwater has been vanishing at a rampant rate.

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How India’s depleting groundwater levels are changing the shape of the land above #IndiaNEWS
Beneath the vast, fertile northern plains of India, groundwater has been vanishing at a rampant rate. According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the groundwater in north India has decreased by 8.8 crore acre-feet in the last decade.The unsustainable use and decline of groundwater leads to water becoming scarce for future generations, but it is not limited to that. Scientists are actively studying how the reduction in underground water is compacting the land above, causing irreversible changes in the aquifers. Experts warn as the water from the aquifers keeps disappearing, the land may suddenly or gradually sink, leading to a phenomenon known as land subsidence.The underground water exists deep in the earth’s surface, where it occupies the void left by soil pores or rock cracks. At those depths, water is pressurised and it pushes the earth up. “The weight of the earth is shared by both the water and the matter underneath,� said Shagun Garg, a civil engineer and researcher at the University of Cambridge. “When the underground water is drawn out excessively, the matter underneath becomes the sole entity for managing the load.�Effect on landIndia is ranked number one for its excessive groundwater usage. Even within India, the northern Gangetic plains are exploited more than other parts. The impact...Read more

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