Groundwater pumping in the last century has contributed as much as 50% to stream flow declines in some US rivers. This is the first study to examine the impact of past groundwater pumping across the entire US. Previous research examined how groundwater pumping affected surface waters, but at smaller scales. The researchers compared what US surface waters would have been like without consumptive uses with changes since large-scale groundwater pumping began in the 1950s.
Laura E. Condon, Reed M. Maxwell. Simulating the sensitivity of evapotranspiration and streamflow to large-scale groundwater depletion. Science Advances, 2019; 5 (6): eaav4574 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aav4574