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GROUNDWATER DEPLETION

How deep can the straw go?

Aquifers and groundwater resources are a critical lifeline for billions of people. Drilling deeper wells is one adaptive strategy to lower groundwater, but uncertainty plagues every aspect of dynamic aquifer systems.

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Fig. 1: Theoretical change in pumping rates by User A and User B given changes in groundwater elevation over time.

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Correspondence to Brian F. Thomas.

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Thomas, B.F. How deep can the straw go?. Nat Sustain 2, 659–660 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-019-0335-x

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