America's water: Agricultural water demands and the response of groundwater

M. Ho, V. Parthasarathy, E. Etienne, T. A. Russo, N. Devineni, U. Lall

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

21 Scopus citations

Abstract

Agricultural, industrial, and urban water use in the conterminous United States (CONUS) is highly dependent on groundwater that is largely drawn from nonsurficial wells (>30 m). We use a Demand-Sensitive Drought Index to examine the impacts of agricultural water needs, driven by low precipitation, high agricultural water demand, or a combination of both, on the temporal variability of depth to groundwater across the CONUS. We characterize the relationship between changes in groundwater levels, agricultural water deficits relative to precipitation during the growing season, and winter precipitation. We find that declines in groundwater levels in the High Plains aquifer and around the Mississippi River Valley are driven by groundwater withdrawals used to supplement agricultural water demands. Reductions in agricultural water demands for crops do not, however, lead to immediate recovery of groundwater levels due to the demand for groundwater in other sectors in regions such as Utah, Maryland, and Texas.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)7546-7555
Number of pages10
JournalGeophysical Research Letters
Volume43
Issue number14
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 28 2016

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Geophysics
  • General Earth and Planetary Sciences

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'America's water: Agricultural water demands and the response of groundwater'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this