Climate Change Threatens Drinking Water, As Rising Sea Penetrates Coastal Aquifers

ScienceDaily (Nov. 7, 2007) — As sea levels rise, coastal communities could lose up to 50 percent more of their fresh water supplies than previously thought, according to a new study from Ohio State University.

Consensus of scientists regarding global warming.


Hydrologists here have simulated how saltwater will intrude into fresh water aquifers, given the sea level rise predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The IPCC has concluded that within the next 100 years, sea level could rise as much as 23 inches, flooding coasts worldwide.


Scientists previously assumed that, as saltwater moved inland, it would penetrate underground only as far as it did above ground.

But this new research shows that when saltwater and fresh water meet, they mix in complex ways, depending on the texture of the sand along the coastline. In some cases, a zone of mixed, or brackish, water can extend 50 percent further inland underground than it does above ground.

more:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071106164744.htm

Over 3 billion people live within 200 km of a coastline.

if we apply the E/E rule that it's always worse than the models predict, the implication is that

1) sea levels will rise further, and faster, than 23 inches in the next 100 years.

2) the resulting aquifer damage will be even worse than these new, worse, predictions.

3) meanwhile, even more people will be populating the coastlines.

Well, if there's no fresh water, we can rethink THIS.

Either population growth will slow or cease along coasts. It's not going to be pretty, I suspect.

Many coastal aquifers are already contaminated by salt water intrusions, even with little sea level rise to "help".


Watch events in Israel/Gaza. Gaza has very few fresh water aquifer sources, no rivers, and a large population. The remaining aquifers are predicted to go salt/brackish in a few years. This is a disaster in slow motion. One of many.

Note the similarity to THIS: