Water shortage: how can we prevent US wells from drying up?

May 17, 2021

Wells provide over 100 million Americans with drinking water. Image: REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar

Debra Perrone

Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, University of California Santa Barbara

Scott Jasechko

Assistant Professor of Water Resources, University of California Santa Barbara

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The U.S. has one of the highest national groundwater use rates in the world. Image: Jasechko and Perrone, 2021, CC BY-ND

Groundwater can remain underground for days to millennia, depending on how deep it sinks, how readily it moves through rock around it and how fast humans pump it to the surface. Image: USGS

a chart showing the price of drilling water.

Drilling a new household well in the U.S. Southwest can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Image: Jasechko and Perrone 2020

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