{
  "id": 9351411,
  "title": "'It has become very dire in a lot of places': New map reveals exactly where humans are adding and removing precious fresh water on Earth",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/23/it-has-become-very-dire-in-a-lot-of-places-new-map-reveals-exactly",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-09-23T14:44:01.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Live Science",
    "slug": "live-science",
    "url": "https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/it-has-become-very-dire-in-a-lot-of-places-new-map-reveals-exactly-where-humans-are-adding-and-removing-precious-fresh-water-on-earth"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A new map highlights where humans are adding or removing critical fresh water across Earth. Researchers used satellite data to map freshwater trends from 2002 to 2025, revealing stark regional differences. Overall, fresh water losses outpaced gains, underscoring the urgent need for improved water management to avoid a global crisis. Hrishikesh Chandanpurkar, a hydrologist and co-founder of the nonprofit Evergreen Resilience Institute, emphasized the dire situation in numerous areas. The study attributed these changes to both human activities and climate factors, using geostatistical methods to differentiate between them. The researchers identified 94 regions with above-average shifts in freshwater storage, with 40 influenced primarily by human factors like irrigation and dam construction. These 40 hotspots pinpoint specific locations where water conservation efforts could make a difference. Freshwater gains were primarily due to rain-fed agriculture, irrigation with surface water, reservoir impoundment, and deforestation, while losses were mainly caused by groundwater irrigation and the construction of canals and other water infrastructure. Human water use significantly impacts water storage changes on every continent except Australia and Antarctica, where climate factors dominate. Local freshwater changes can affect downstream regions, potentially reducing availability. The study's high resolution corrected previous resolution limitations and allowed researchers to identify specific \"hotspots\" where human and climate drivers predominantly influence freshwater storage. Regions like northern India, southern Iran, and the southern High Plains (a region spanning Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas) saw severe groundwater depletion, raising concerns about unsustainable irrigation practices. The findings emphasize the need for better water management to ensure long-term water security and food production, as many critical food-producing regions have been overusing groundwater.",
  "summary": "A new high-resolution map of global freshwater trends between 2002 and 2025 has sharpened scientists' understanding of how humans are using and displacing our most precious resource.",
  "key_points": [
    "Researchers mapped freshwater trends from 2002 to 2025 using satellite data",
    "94 regions identified with above-average shifts in freshwater storage",
    "Groundwater depletion severe in northern India, southern Iran, and southern High Plains"
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}