Globally, about half of drinking water and a quarter of irrigation water comes from under the ground. Yet many coastal sites throughout the world are seeing notable declines in their groundwater levels, putting them at risk of saltwater intrusion, a new study says. The study, published April 14 in the journal Nature Water, found that more than 10% of monitored locations showed a significant years-long decline in groundwater levels, indicating a susceptibility to saltwater intrusion, which can render water unusable. Annika Nolte, a data scientist at the University of Bremen in Germany and lead author of the study, said the results amounted to a “warning” and the work offered a “broad global look at the existing risks” while also identifying “specific regions where we should prioritize management and monitoring.” Sections of a cornfield in the eastern United States. The areas with elevated salt (left) yielded far fewer crops than areas with normal salt. Image courtesy of Jarrod Miller/Delmarva Saltwater Intrusion. A field in Delaware, in the eastern United States. Salt along the edges affected crop growth. Image courtesy of Jarrod Miller/Delmarva Saltwater Intrusion. Groundwater’s role as a key source of freshwater makes it essential for human existence, according to co-author Robert Reinecke, a professor of earth sciences at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz in Germany. “Generally speaking, the availability of drinking water is a prerequisite for people to be able to live anywhere, grow food, and for us to have healthy ecosystems,” Reinecke told German news program Tagesschau. The insidious creep…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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