Ground water loss in N.India due to human activity: NASA

In a path breaking research, American scientists, using NASA satellite data have found that groundwater levels in northern India have been declining at an alarming rate of as much as one foot per year over the past decade -- entirely due to human activity.

More than 26 cubic miles of groundwater disappeared from aquifers in areas of Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and New Delhi, between 2002 and 2008, the NASA's statement said.

This is enough water to fill Lake Mead thrice, the largest man-made reservoir in the United States, it said.
    
The research was conducted by a team of hydrologists led by Matt Rodell of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

It was found that northern India's underground water is being pumped and consumed by human activities, such as irrigating cropland, and is draining aquifers faster than natural processes replenishing them.
    
The results of this research, which is based on data from NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites, have been published in the latest issue of Nature.

The GRACE's two satellites change position in response to variations in the pull of gravity which occurs when there are changes in underground water masses.