本文主要介绍了一项关于全球地下水水位下降的相关研究。一项国际研究最新发现，全球地下水减少正加速，尤其是干旱地区因农业用水等原因，地下蓄水层水位下降更明显，但这一趋势并非完全不可逆转，通过人为干预是可以恢复水位的。
Groundwater, which billions of people rely on for drinking, irrigation and other uses, is a lifeline for people especially in parts of the world where rainfall and surface water are not enough, such as northwest India and the southwest United States. Reductions in groundwater can make it harder for people to access freshwater to drink or to supply water to crops and can result in land subsidence (下沉).
地下水是数十亿人赖以饮用、灌溉和其他用途的水源，是人们的生命线，尤其是在世界上降雨和地表水不足的地区，比如印度西北部和美国西南部。地下水的减少可能会使人们更难获得淡水饮用或为作物供水，并可能导致地面下沉。
According to a new study, many parts of the world are experiencing rapid reductions in groundwater. The research analyzed millions of groundwater level measurements from 170,000 wells in more than 40 countries. It’s the first study to piece together what’s happening to groundwater levels at a global scale, according to the researchers involved, and will help scientists better understand what impact humans are having on this valuable underground resource, either through overuse or indirectly by changes in rainfall linked to climate change.
根据一项新的研究，世界上许多地区正在经历地下水的迅速减少。该研究分析了来自40多个国家的17万口井的数百万次地下水位测量结果。据参与研究的研究人员称，这是第一次将全球范围内地下水水位的变化拼凑在一起的研究，将帮助科学家更好地了解人类对这种宝贵的地下资源的影响，无论是通过过度使用还是间接通过与气候变化相关的降雨变化。
The authors found that groundwater levels declined between 2000 and 2022 in 71% of the 1,693 aquifer (蓄水层) systems included in the research, with groundwater levels declining more than 0.1 meter a year in 36%, or 617, of them. The Ascoy-Soplamo Aquifer in Spain had the fastest rate of decline in the data they gathered, 2.95 meters per year, said study coauthor Scott Jasechko, an associate professor at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at University of California Santa Barbara. Several aquifer systems in Iran were among those with the fastest rate of groundwater decline, he added. The team wasn’t able to gather data from much of Africa, South America and Southeast Asia because of a lack of monitoring, but Jasechko said the study included the countries where most global groundwater pumping (抽取) takes place.
这项研究的作者们发现，在2000年至2022年期间，研究中包括的1,693个蓄水层系统中，有71%的地下水位下降，其中36%的地下水位每年下降超过0.1米，即617个。该研究的合著者、加州大学圣巴巴拉分校布伦环境科学与管理学院副教授斯科特·亚谢科说，他们收集到的数据中，西班牙Ascoy-Soplamo蓄水层的下降速度最快，每年下降2.95米。他补充说，伊朗的几个蓄水层系统是地下水下降速度最快的地区之一。由于缺乏监测，研究小组无法从非洲、南美和东南亚的大部分地区收集数据，但亚谢科说，这项研究包括了全球地下水抽取最多的国家。
The study also highlighted some success stories in Bangkok, Arizona and New Mexico, where groundwater has begun to recover after interventions to better regulate water use or redirect water to depleted aquifers. “I was impressed by the clever strategies that have been put into action to address groundwater reductions in several places, though these ‘good news’ stories are very rare,” Jasechko said.
该研究还强调了曼谷、亚利桑那州和新墨西哥州的一些成功案例，这些地方的地下水在采取干预措施更好地调节用水或将水重新导向枯竭的蓄水层后开始恢复。亚谢科说:“我对几个地方为解决地下水减少问题而采取的聪明策略印象深刻，尽管这些‘好消息’非常罕见。”
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