{"id":119400,"date":"2024-04-14T17:55:41","date_gmt":"2024-04-14T21:55:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/?p=119400"},"modified":"2024-04-15T10:59:29","modified_gmt":"2024-04-15T14:59:29","slug":"electromagnetic-technology-for-groundwater-basin-mapping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/electromagnetic-technology-for-groundwater-basin-mapping\/","title":{"rendered":"Electromagnetic Technology for Groundwater Basin Mapping"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By Samhar Almomani, Publishing Associate<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Researcher and Writer<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> at Save the Water\u2122 | April 14, 2024<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The state of California recently used electromagnetic technology to map its groundwater basins. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/groundwater.org\/what-is-groundwater\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Groundwater is water that is often found in underground soil, sand, and rock<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/groundwater.org\/what-is-groundwater\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">cracks<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/walking-on-water-groundwater-availability-across-the-u-s\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Groundwater is essential<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to California\u2019s agricultural and industrial sectors due to the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/california-contaminated-groundwater\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">state\u2019s increasing frequency of droughts<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Decades of unsustainable extraction has led to the dwindling of this resource. For this reason,<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/water.ca.gov\/News\/Blog\/2019\/March-19\/5-Reasons-Groundwater-is-Vital-to-Californians#:~:text=Groundwater%20provides%2030%20to%2060,on%20groundwater%20for%20drinking%20water.\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> mapping the remaining groundwater sources is of great importance<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) is the agency leading efforts to begin the use of this new technology. T<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/water.ca.gov\/News\/News-Releases\/2021\/July-21\/DWR-to-Use-Innovative-Airborne-Technology-to-Map-Groundwater-Basins\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">hey understand the importance of getting accurate information about groundwater resources to support drought responses<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. This is part of a broader effort to better invest in California\u2019s water holdings and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/mapwater.stanford.edu\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">begin working on sustainable interventions<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 600;\">How Does Electromagnetic Technology Work?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/water.ca.gov\/News\/News-Releases\/2024\/Mar-24\/Understanding-the-Underground-DWR-Completes-First-Phase-of-Innovative-Groundwater-Mapping-Program\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The DWR plans to collect data using airborne electromagnetic surveys<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. This involves a helicopter sending <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ksby.com\/news\/local-news\/dwr-to-use-helicopters-to-map-groundwater-resources-across-central-coast\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">signals that bounce off different ground structures<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. These signals would be able to detect where groundwater basins are. Furthermore, t<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/amp\/sacramento\/news\/helicopters-use-electromagnetic-technology-to-map-ca-groundwater-basins\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">his technology is reliable because it can penetrate up to 1,000 feet below the ground<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Between December 2021 and November 2023, the state mapped around 16,000 line miles of data across 100 groundwater basins.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Electromagnetic technology has several advantages over the traditional methods currently in use:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC6585690\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is non-invasive<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. It uses signals to collect data from the surface, which removes the need to drill and<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.watereducation.org\/western-water\/high-tech-mapping-central-valleys-underground-blazes-path-drought-resilience\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> disrupt the ecosystem<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It allows for <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/feart.2023.1159910\/full\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">high-resolution imaging<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Consequently, researchers get a clearer picture of the state of groundwater basins.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It allows for <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@raymingpcb\/electromagnetic-field-high-speed-automatic-scanning-technology-878527e6e2dd\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">rapid data collection<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Hence, large areas can be analyzed in much less time than traditional methods would have needed.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 600;\">Traditional Methods That Harm the Environment<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Traditionally, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">r<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.guidelinegeo.com\/groundwater-prospection\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">esearchers need to drill wells and disrupt the ecosystem to learn more about the state of groundwater basins<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. These efforts are both time-consuming and expensive. Additionally, this makes it challenging for researchers and policymakers to map the entire area that needs research. This has been an issue for a long time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These methods also don\u2019t provide enough data for researchers, as they are often unable to capture complex geological underground structures. These structures affect the flow and storage of groundwater. Therefore, they provide important data for understanding the needs of a groundwater system.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Furthermore, these methods include <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S2214581822002026\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">limited spatial coverage<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. It\u2019s difficult to have multiple drilling projects over large swathes of land, especially if they\u2019re disruptive to the ecosystem.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 600;\">The Future of Electromagnetic Technology Use<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/insider.govtech.com\/california\/news\/state-water-resources-uses-tech-to-map-groundwater\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Effective mapping would allow researchers and government workers<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to find untapped groundwater and help communities depend less on surface water. This is especially crucial with an unexpected climate. Furthermore, a<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ramboll.com\/en-us\/projects\/water\/aem-mapping-california-s-groundwater\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ccurate data collection and management would allow policymakers to make informed long-term decisions<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that better address water scarcity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Currently, t<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/amp\/sacramento\/news\/helicopters-use-electromagnetic-technology-to-map-ca-groundwater-basins\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">he researchers\u2019 goal is to combine data collected from electromagnetic mapping with data that exists on a local level. The purpose is to localize these efforts. <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since the project is shown to be effective, it would not be surprising to see other states following suit.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Samhar Almomani, Publishing Associate: Researcher and Writer at Save the Water\u2122 | April 14, 2024 The&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12901,"featured_media":119401,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61,65],"tags":[549,558,575],"yst_prominent_words":[2075,3119,2529,2987,3088,2450,612],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119400"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12901"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119400"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":119402,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119400\/revisions\/119402"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119400"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=119400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}