Irrigation-induced land water depletion aggravated by climate change
Journal
Nature Water
Journal Volume
3
Journal Issue
12
Start Page
1424
End Page
1435
ISSN
2731-6084
Date Issued
2025-11-05
Author(s)
Yao, Yi
Thiery, Wim
Ducharne, Agnès
Cook, Benjamin I.
Ding, Anxin
De Hertog, Steven J.
Sieber, Petra
Aas, Kjetil Schanke
Arboleda-Obando, Pedro F.
Colin, Jeanne
Costantini, Maya
Decharme, Bertrand
Lawrence, David M.
Lawrence, Peter
Leung, L. Ruby
Devaraju, Narayanappa
Wu, Ren-Jie
Zhou, Tian
Jägermeyr, Jonas
McDermid, Sonali Shukla
Pokhrel, Yadu
Satoh, Yusuke
Yokohata, Tokuta
Gudmundsson, Lukas
Seneviratne, Sonia I.
Abstract
Agricultural irrigation has experienced rapid expansion, and its growing freshwater consumption is potentially exacerbating water scarcity issues. Previous studies predominantly relied on observations or land-only simulations, often neglecting land–atmosphere interactions or failing to capture long-term evolution. We therefore analyse the effects of historical irrigation expansion on water fluxes and resources using seven Earth system models. Here we show that irrigation expansion in many regions substantially decreases the net water influx from the atmosphere to land, further aggravating the existing drying trends caused by climate change. For example, irrigation expansion changed the trend of this net influx from −0.664 (± 0.283) to −1.461 (± 0.261) mm yr−2 in South Asia after 1960. Consequently, the local terrestrial water storage depletion rate is substantially enlarged by irrigation expansion (for example, from −2.559 (± 0.094) to −16.008 (± 0.557) mm yr−1). Our results attribute the land water loss to irrigation expansion and climate change, calling for immediate solutions to tackle the negative trends.
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Type
journal article