During the last three decades, the depletion of underground water reserves, known as aquifers, has spread from isolated pockets of the agricultural landscape to large portions of the world's irrigated land.
Irrigated land is disproportionately important to world food production.
Some 40 percent of the global harvest comes from the 17 percent of cropland that is irrigated. The world is betting on that share to increase markedly in the decades ahead, in order to feed the world's growing population. Groundwater overpumping may now be the single biggest threat to food production. The Clean Water Network has six principles to follow for a meaningful and effective Clean Water Act. We must clean up and prevent toxic water pollution including polluted runoff which threatens the health of our families.