Last year, New Mexico In Depth reported about how decreasing snowfall and rainfall will put river systems and associated water supplies at risk in the coming century. Now, a new study shows how climate change will affect the West’s groundwater supplies…….

According to the study, published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Hydrology, water withdrawals will continue exceeding the ability of aquifers to replenish with water from precipitation, or irrigation and other water run-off. Mountain aquifers, which rely on snowpack to recharge, are also expected to decline………

With funding from the New Mexico State Legislature in 2014, climate scientists, economists, engineers and hydrologists from the University of New Mexico, New Mexico State University and the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology had been studying the impacts of drought on groundwater supplies, rivers, and the economy. That funding was not renewed in 2015 or 2016.

To read the complete article: http://nmindepth.com/2016/02/23/warming-southwest-means-less-water-underground-too/