Grant Ferguson and colleagues from the University of Arizona and the University of California, Santa Barbara published a new study in Environmental Research Letters, looking at the depth at which fresh groundwater encounters saltier reserves that are less useful for drinking or irrigation.
They demonstrated that fresh groundwater is shallower throughout the country than previously thought and is thus less abundant and more vulnerable to pollution and depletion. Fresh groundwater in the eastern United States was shallower than in the western states, which, according to researchers, was surprising and salty groundwater is already causing problems in eastern states.