Clean, fresh water is essential for drinking, hygiene and food production. In coastal areas, however, groundwater levels have been falling whilst sea levels have risen. This means an increasing risk that there will not be enough freshwater to sustain communities.
What is happening to coastal groundwater?
Scientists have been researching groundwater levels in coastal areas. They found that over 20% of the regions studied had seen significant changes in groundwater levels, in some cases an annual decrease of as much as 50cm. This suggests over-extraction, when rainfall is not high enough to replace the groundwater taken by humans for things like food production. This is exacerbated by rising sea levels and a subsequent intrusion of saltwater contaminating the groundwater supply.
Why is this a risk?
Saltwater is not pleasant or healthy for humans to drink. In coastal areas, a shift from fresh groundwater to seawater can change entire ecosystems, including the plants that will grow and the animals that live there. It reduces soil fertility so that fewer crops can be grown successfully. This has an impact on many areas of human life, including food production.
Can this risk be managed?
Just as removing toxic chemicals through the kind of groundwater remediation offered at //soilfix.co.uk/services/groundwater-remediation requires active monitoring and treatment, the protection of fresh groundwater requires active management, from changing water use habits to infrastructure investments to careful planting.
Recognising the issue of saltwater intruding on traditional groundwater sources is an important step, but it must be followed by active mitigation and management of water levels.