Regional variations in freshwater overconsumption
Wednesday, September 2, 2020 - 11:11
in Earth & Climate
Freshwater -- which falls to the earth as precipitation or exists beneath the surface as groundwater -- is desperately needed to sustain people, plants and animals. With an ever-increasing human population, water shortages are already occurring in many areas are only expected to get worse. Now, researchers have estimated the freshwater supply and demand of about 11,000 water basins across the globe, determining that one-fourth of freshwater consumption exceeds regional capacities.