The Future: six drivers of global change Part 79

Li Jiao, "Water Shortages Loom as Northern China's Aquifers Are Sucked Dry," Science, June 2010.

322 U.S. depends far less on irrigation

Brown, Plan B 4.0.

323 all twenty-one of the world's longest rivers

"Dams Control Most of the World's Large Rivers," Environmental News Service, April 2005, http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2005/2005-04-15-04.asp.

324 when it was built seventy years ago

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, "What Is the Biggest Dam in the World?," June 2012, http://www.usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/History/essays/biggest.html.

325 global freshwater was used for agriculture

"No Easy Fix," Economist.

326 780 million people in the world still lack access to safe drinking water

Ibid.; UNICEF, "Water, Sanitation and Hygiene: Introduction," March 2012; World Health Organization, "Progress on Drinking Water and Sanitation: 2012 Update," 2012, http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2012/9789280646320_eng_full_text.pdf.

327 has water found to be one million years old

Jack Eggleston, U.S. Geological Survey, "Million Year Old Groundwater in Maryland Water Supply," June 2012, http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=3246#.UGS3kRh9lbo.

328 all have water more than one million years old

Ibid.

329 cla.s.sic case of "out of sight, out of mind"

Jiao, "Water Shortages Loom as Northern China's Aquifers Are Sucked Dry."

330 will dramatically increase sea level rise later in this century

"Groundwater Depletion Rate Accelerating Worldwide," ScienceDaily.

331 Central Valley of California, and northeastern China

Ibid.

332 unsustainably to irrigate crops in dryland areas

Jiao, "Water Shortages Loom as Northern China's Aquifers Are Sucked Dry."

333 intended to remedy water shortages in northern China

Edward Wong, "Plan for China's Water Crisis Spurs Concern," New York Times, June 1, 2011.

334 "where the world's major irrigated lands are located"

UNEP, "Water Withdrawal and Consumption: The Big Gap," 2008, http://www.unep.org/dewa/vitalwater/article42.html.

335 water withdrawal in the coming decades

Ibid.; Matthew Power, "Peak Water: Aquifers and Rivers Are Running Dry. How Three Regions Are Coping," Wired, April 21, 2008.

336 Europe is consuming only a slightly larger percentage

Ibid.

337 are already experiencing severe shortages

Paul Quinlan, "US-Mexico Pact Hailed as Key Step Towards Solving Southwest Water Supply Woes," New York Times, December 22, 2010.

338 herded north from Texas to wetter, cooler pastures