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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

The ditches that accidentally boosted a thirsty region’s water supply

A web of canals originating in the sixteenth century actually recharged an essential aquifer in India and Pakistan.
A farmer stands at an irrigation pump in an expansive field of rice on farmland near Hisar, Haryana, India.

A farmer inspects the irrigation pump in a rice paddy in northwestern India, where the underlying aquifer has been sustained by leaky canals. Credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/Bloomberg via Getty

Human activity often damages or destroys natural resources. But a canal network in India and Pakistan shows that construction can sometimes provide benefits1.

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Nature 605, 10 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-01131-1

References

  1. MacAllister, D. J., Krishan, G., Basharat, M., Cuba, D., & MacDonald, A. M. Nature Geosci. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00926-1 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Lapworth, D. J. et al. Geophys. Res. Lett. 42, 7554–7562 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

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