Pecologix Political Ecology Blotter

There are concerns that sea-level rise resulting from climate change could lead to saltwater intrusion into coastal aquifers. However, a study shows that groundwater extraction is the main driver of saltwater intrusion in the United States, highlighting the importance of sustainable water management. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1413

A controversial method of drilling for natural gas, called fracking, has boomed in recent years—as have concerns over its potential to cause environmental contamination and harm human health. But a major review of the practice, released today, uncovered no signs that it is causing trouble below ground. “We found no direct evidence that fracking itself [...]

On 28 October, China’s State Council unveiled a $5.5 billion initiative over 10 years to prevent and treat groundwater contamination. The plan will bolster monitoring and push development of groundwater cleanup technologies. The project is long overdue, hydrologists say. Water is scarce in China, which ekes by with only one-quarter of the global average for [...]

Secondary treated wastewater was infiltrated through a 9 m-thick calcareous vadose zone during a 39 month managed aquifer recharge (MAR) field trial to determine potential improvements in the recycled water quality. The water quality improvements of the recycled water were based on changes in the chemistry and microbiology of (i) the recycled water prior to [...]

Sewage-contaminated shallow groundwater is a potential cause of beach closures and water quality impairment in marine coastal communities. In this study we set out to evaluate the feasibility of several strategies for disinfecting sewage-contaminated shallow groundwater before it reaches the coastline. The disinfection rates of Escherichia coli (EC) and enterococci bacteria (ENT) were measured in [...]

Removal of water from terrestrial subsurface storage is a natural consequence of groundwater withdrawals, but global depletion is not well characterized. Cumulative groundwater depletion represents a transfer of mass from land to the oceans that contributes to sea-level rise. Depletion is directly calculated using calibrated groundwater models, analytical approaches, or volumetric budget analyses for multiple [...]

Monitoring the concentration of NO3-N from agricultural fields to the subsurface and shallow ground water resources have received considerable interest worldwide, since agriculture has been identified as a major source of nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N) pollution of groundwater systems in intensively farmed watersheds. A study was conducted to quantify the impact of two tillage practices viz. chisel [...]