  
 In China, desertification is advancing at Sahara-like rates. Areas in the Northern provinces, which were traditionally known as farming communities, have literally disappeared under the sand in the past few years. Due to rapid decline the Gobi Desert has grown to half the size of Pensylvania in a little over ten years. This dustbowl threatens not just the stability of world food supply, but is also dangerously encroaching upon Bejing, less than 150 miles away.
Around the planet, water scarcity problems are becoming severe. Ever-growing populations, poor water management policies, and over pumping of unreplenishable water sources is moving us all nearer to a very dry future... "In a rational world, falling water tables would trigger alarm..." (Brown).
Please read over the following list for a quick overview of the water issues facing some of the most powerful countries in the world today.
Table 6-1. UNDERGROUND WATER DEPLETION IN KEY COUNTRIES
The United States -
Overpumping is widespread, and the overpumping of the vast Ogallala or High Plains aquifer—essentially a fossil aquifer that extends from southern South Dakota through Nebraska, Kansas, eastern Colorado, Oklahoma, and Texas—is a matter of national concern. In the Southern Great Plains, irrigated area has shrunk by 24 percent since 1980 as wells have gone dry.
Saudi Arabia -
When the Saudis turned to their large fossil aquifer for irrigation, wheat production climbed from 140,000 tons in 1980 to 4.1 million tons in 1992. But with rapid depletion of the aquifer, production dropped to 1.6 million tons in 2004. It is only a matter of time until irrigated wheat production ends.
Israel -
Both the coastal aquifer and the mountain aquifer Israel shares with Palestinians are being depleted. With severe water shortages leading to a ban on irrigated wheat, the continuous tightening of water supplies is likely to further raise tensions in this region.
Iran -
The overpumping of aquifers is estimated at 5 billion tons per year. When aquifers are depleted, Iran’s grain harvest could drop by 5 million tons, or one third of the current harvest.
China -
Water tables are falling throughout northern China, including under the North China Plain. China’s harvest of wheat has fallen in recent years as irrigation wells have dried up. From 2002 to 2004, China went from being essentially self-sufficient in wheat to being the world’s largest importer.
India -
Water tables are falling in most states in India, including the Punjab and Haryana, the leading grain-surplus states. With thousands of irrigation wells going dry each year, India’s farmers are finding it increasingly difficult to feed the 18 million people added each year.
Yemen -
This country of 21 million people is unique in that it has both one of the world’s fastest-growing populations and the fastest-falling water tables. The World Bank reports that the water table is falling by 2 meters or more a year in most of Yemen.
Source: FALLING WATER TABLES; Chapter 6: Stabilizing Water Tables; Lester R. Brown, "Outgrowing the Earth: The Food Security Challenge in an Age of Falling Water Tables and Rising Temperatures" (W.W. Norton & Co., NY: 2005). The link for this excerpt can be found @: {{http://www.earth-policy.org/Books/Out/Ote6_2.htm}}
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