Famiglietti, Jay 1
1 NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Just as the settling and development of the arid American West was fueled by harnessing its available fresh water, the growing lack of water availability may well be its undoing. California?s epic drought is just the latest example of what is shaping up to be the new normal out west. In this presentation I review how groundwater depletion in the western United States is threatening to greatly undermine the region?s water security. Case studies from California and the Colorado River basin are examined. Implications for conjunctive water management are discussed.