Groundwater is rapidly declining in the Colorado River Basin, satellite data show

New research based on satellite data shows the depletion of groundwater in the Colorado River Basin far exceeds losses from the river’s reservoirs.

Scientists say overpumping is leading to alarmingly rapid declines in groundwater at a time when climate change is putting growing strains on the Southwest’s water supplies.

As the Colorado River’s giant reservoirs have declined during the last two decades, even larger amounts of water have been pumped and drained from underground, according to new research based on data from NASA satellites.

Scientists at Arizona State University examined more than two decades of satellite measurements and found that since 2003 the quantity of groundwater depleted in the Colorado River Basin is comparable to the total capacity of Lake Mead, the nation’s lar