For several years we have been hearing about Peak Oil but a greater threat to the human race is Peak Water. We have heard about the drought and water shortages in California but that state is not unique.
The Central Valley boasts some of the globe’s fastest-depleting aquifers—but by no means the fastest overall. Indeed, it has a rival here in the United States. The below[above] graphic represents depletion rates at some of the globe’s largest aquifers, nearly all of which Famiglietti notes, “underlie the world’s great agricultural regions and are primarily responsible for their high productivity.”
The navy-blue line represents the Ogallala aquifer—a magnificent water resource now being sucked dry to grow corn in the US high plains. Note that it has quietly dropped nearly as much as the Central Valley’s aquifers (yellow line) over the past decade. The plunging light-blue line represents the falling water table in Punjab, India’s breadbasket and the main site of that irrigation-intensive agricultural “miracle” known as the Green Revolution, which industrialized the region’s farm fields starting in the 1960s. The light-green line represents China’s key growing region, the north plain. Its relatively gentle fall may look comforting, but the water table there has been dropping steadily for years.
As noted this is not just an issue of water but food. As the article notes the result will be people starving and social unrest. This makes Peak Oil seem almost immaterial. We can live without oil but not without water and food. Of course this means that in addition to Peak Oil and Peak Water we have also reached Peak People.