气候变化领域集成服务门户(CCPortal): Do groundwater systems experience a 'silent' stress? A paradox of rising groundwater levels and stressed aquifers

CCPortal

DOI	10.1016/j.gsd.2024.101111
	Do groundwater systems experience a 'silent' stress? A paradox of rising groundwater levels and stressed aquifers
	Bhatnagar, Ishita; Dhanya, C. T.; Chahar, B. R.
发表日期	2024
ISSN	2352-801X
起始页码	25
卷号	25
英文摘要	Global groundwater stress poses a serious threat to both the environment and human communities. Conventionally, groundwater stress is said to occur when the demand for groundwater (both human and environmental water requirements) exceeds its recharge rate over a period of time, resulting in declining groundwater levels. Does this imply that rising groundwater levels always indicate a healthy aquifer? We hypothesize that this may not always be true as groundwater systems respond extremely slowly (often taking several years), reflecting such fluctuations as low-frequency signals, to the accumulated effects of varying climate and groundwater demands. Therefore, we suspect that groundwater systems may be hiding stress behind apparently rising groundwater levels. Thus, our study defines a new concept of silent groundwater stress and devises a new tool to detect its existence, quantify its degree and attribute the driving forces for such a silent stress. We demonstrate these in large heterogenous sub-tropical aquifer systems over the Indian subcontinent. We found that the interplay of climate and human activity has disrupted the groundwater balance, altering the resilience capacity of large aquifers, particularly in agriculturally active regions. Climate variability puts latent stress on crucial aquifers despite rising groundwater levels. A mere reduction in natural recharge by 6 % can trigger dampening of the rise of groundwater levels, thereby pushing the system closer to a tipping point beyond which one could witness a sudden breakdown of the groundwater system. In contrast, rising groundwater levels may create a temporary euphoria in areas with increased natural recharge, triggering excessive pumping and can impose a silent stress on the aquifer system. Thus, it is crucial to acknowledge and integrate this silent stress in groundwater man- agement amidst climate change and water scarcity to ensure adequate supply for billions of people.
英文关键词	Groundwater pumping; Climate change; Groundwater recharge; Groundwater regime; Stress indicator
语种	英语
WOS研究方向	Engineering ; Environmental Sciences & Ecology ; Water Resources
WOS类目	Engineering, Environmental ; Environmental Sciences ; Water Resources
WOS记录号	WOS:001182240400001
来源期刊	GROUNDWATER FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
文献类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://gcip.llas.ac.cn/handle/2XKMVOVA/290097
作者单位	Indian Institute of Technology System (IIT System); Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) - Delhi
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Bhatnagar, Ishita,Dhanya, C. T.,Chahar, B. R.. Do groundwater systems experience a 'silent' stress? A paradox of rising groundwater levels and stressed aquifers[J],2024,25.
APA	Bhatnagar, Ishita,Dhanya, C. T.,&Chahar, B. R..(2024).Do groundwater systems experience a 'silent' stress? A paradox of rising groundwater levels and stressed aquifers.GROUNDWATER FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT,25.
MLA	Bhatnagar, Ishita,et al."Do groundwater systems experience a 'silent' stress? A paradox of rising groundwater levels and stressed aquifers".GROUNDWATER FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 25(2024).