Groundwater Pumping a Large Contributor to Sea Level Rise

About 42 percent of the observed sea-level rise between 1961 and 2003, or about 0.03 inches per year, were from sources other than thermal expansion and melting glaciers and ice sheets, according to a new study in Nature Geoscience. These other sources include climate-driven changes in terrestrial water storage, loss of water from closed basins, artificial reservoir water impoundment, and, the largest contributor, unsustainable groundwater use. The Guardian explains that large quantities of water are pumped from aquifers to satisfy the demands of nearby cities and farms, and then flows into the oceans more quickly than the aquifers can be recharged by precipitation, leading to a rise in sea level.