By Sid Perkins
Using groundwater for crop irrigation or industrial purposes adds more planet-warming carbon dioxide to the atmosphere than volcanoes do, a new study suggests.
As water soaks through soil, it picks up carbon dioxide that’s generated when organic matter in the soil decomposes. On average, groundwater holds from 10 to 100 times as much carbon dioxide as the water in lakes and rivers, says Gwen L. Macpherson, a hydrogeologist at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. When groundwater is pumped to Earth’s surface, carbon dioxide escapes to the atmosphere, where it acts as a greenhouse gas.