A slow-motion water crisis is unfolding around the world » Yale Climate Connections

Transcript:

Life on Earth depends on freshwater, which appears on land in many different forms.

Famiglietti: “As snow and ice and glaciers and surface water and rivers and lakes and our reservoirs, in the water in the soils, and in our groundwater.”

But Jay Famiglietti of Arizona State University says that as the climate warms, many of these freshwater sources are dwindling.

Mountain glaciers are melting. Permafrost is thawing. And worsening droughts are leading people to pump more groundwater for drinking water and irrigation.

In a recent study, Famiglietti’s team found that worldwide, areas losing freshwater have greatly expanded over the past 20 years.

This phenomenon – called continental drying – contributes to water shortages for communities. And it worsens sea level rise, because as water runs off through rivers and streams, it needs to go somewhere.

Famiglietti: “The ultimate receptacle for this water is the ocean.”

So Famiglietti says it’s critical to conserve and protect Earth’s freshwater – before it runs off to the sea.

Famiglietti: “It really points to the need for nations … to really consider the full implications of how we use water and what we use it for.”

Reporting credit: Sarah Kennedy / ChavoBart Digital Media