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Many parts of the world are experiencing a rapid depletion in the subterranean reserves of water that billions of people rely on for drinking, irrigation and other uses, according to new research that analyzed millions of groundwater level measurements from 170,000 wells in more than 40 countries.
新研究显示，全球许多地区的地下水正在快速枯竭。地下水是数十亿人赖以饮用、灌溉和供应其他用途的水源。这项研究对40多个国家的17万口井中测得的数百万个地下水位数据进行了分析。
It’s the first study to piece together what’s happening to groundwater levels at a global scale, according to the researchers involved, and will help scientists better understand what impact humans are having on this valuable underground resource, either through overuse or indirectly by changes in rainfall linked to climate change.
研究人员指出，这是首个展现全球地下水位现状的研究，有助于科学家更好地了解人类对这一宝贵的地下资源产生的影响。地下水减少一方面是由于人类滥用地下水，另一方面是由气候变化引起的降雨量减少间接导致。
Groundwater, contained within cracks and pores in permeable bodies of rock known as aquifers, is a lifeline for people especially in parts of the world where rainfall and surface water are scarce, such as northwest India and the southwest United States.
储存在可渗透的岩体中的裂缝和气孔（也就是所谓的含水层）中的地下水是雨水和地表水稀缺地区（比如印度西北部和美国西南部）居民的生命线。
Reductions in groundwater can make it harder for people to access freshwater to drink or to irrigate crops and can result in land subsidence.
地下水的减少让人们更难以获得可饮用或灌溉的淡水，并可能导致地面沉降。
The authors found that groundwater levels declined between 2000 and 2022 in 71% of the 1,693 aquifer systems included in the research, with groundwater levels declining more than 0.1 meter a year in 36%, or 617, of them.
研究者发现，2000年至2022年间研究涵盖的1693个含水层系统有71%出现水位下降，其中36%（617个）的地下水位每年下降超0.1米。
The Ascoy-Soplamo Aquifer in Spain had the fastest rate of decline in the data they compiled — a median decline of 2.95 meters per year, said study coauthor Scott Jasechko, an associate professor at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at University of California Santa Barbara.
研究报告的合著者、加州大学圣塔芭芭拉分校布伦环境科学与管理学院副教授斯科特·杰斯克可指出，根据研究人员编纂的数据，西班牙的Ascoy-Soplamo含水层水位下降最快，每年下降的中位数为2.95米。
Several aquifer systems in Iran were among those with the fastest rate of groundwater decline, he added.
他补充道，伊朗的几个含水层系统也是地下水枯竭最快的。
The team wasn’t able to gather data from much of Africa, South America and southeast Asia because of a lack of monitoring, but Jasechko said the study included the countries where most global groundwater pumping takes place.
由于监测不足，该团队无法收集到非洲、南美洲和东南亚大部分地区的数据，但是杰斯克可表示，研究涵盖了全球大多数开采地下水的国家。
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