(ORDO NEWS) — Groundwater is an incredibly valuable resource, but until now experts cannot answer how much of it is present on our planet. Some time ago, scientists conducted a study, dividing groundwater by their age, reserves and location.
This research began in the 70s. To date, specialists have finally managed to sum up the results. The results of the study, led by Tom Gleason, have been published in the scientific journal Nature Geoscience. All groundwaters were divided into two groups – older ones and those that appeared relatively recently and are constantly being updated. It was possible to establish that there are about 23 million cubic kilometers of groundwater on our planet. Of these, only 0.35 million cubic kilometers of water is less than 50 years old. This indicator, according to experts, is not very good.
Groundwater, which has been used for many years and has not been renewed, can contain a huge amount of impurities that are dangerous to human life and health. If we talk about “young” groundwater, they are renewed very slowly and may be unusable due to environmental disasters or climatic pollution. At the same time, in some regions of the planet, groundwater reserves are being depleted at an incredible rate, which can lead to their complete disappearance.
As a result, massive migrations will begin due to lack of water resources. Also, the disappearance of groundwater will negatively affect the economy and directly on human health.
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