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I can't access the study, but this news report says it doesn't examine the causes behind this. For instance, it's way cheaper to drill deeper first then going b

by dahdum 7y ago

I can't access the study, but this news report says it doesn't examine the causes behind this. For instance, it's way cheaper to drill deeper first then going back and doing it, you generally get cleaner water, and better flow. https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-environment/2019/07/24/study-drilling-deeper-groundwater-wells-united-states-unsustainable/1797480001/ https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-environme... > The study was published Monday in the journal Nature Sustainability. The authors didn’t examine causes behind the drilling of deeper wells but said factors can include declining water levels, improving pump technologies, different permit requirements for wells that tap deep aquifers and poor water quality in shallow aquifers.

hinkley 7y ago
Saw this elsewhere, and someone pointed out that choliform bacterial contamination, where it exists, is worse at the top of the aquifer, so people drill deeper to get to the cleaner water. We should really take a look at how that stuff and nitrates from fertilizer are getting down there in the first place. Either our model of aquifers is wrong in very important ways or existing wells are getting backwash problems (eg, ground water following the outside of the bore down, or negative pressure when the pump is off pulling water in through defects in the pipes)