Lambert (2025) Irrigation increased historical land surface and groundwater loss

Identification

• Journal: Nature Water
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-12-08
• Authors: F. Hugo Lambert
• DOI: 10.1038/s44221-025-00560-2

Research Groups

• Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK

Short Summary

A systematic modelling study indicates that historical increases in agricultural irrigation have caused net losses of both land surface runoff and groundwater, independently exceeding the losses attributable to climate change.

Objective

• To quantify the historical impact of agricultural irrigation on land surface and groundwater loss, distinguishing its effects from those of climate change.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Not explicitly stated in this commentary, but implied to be a broad, possibly global or regional scale, given the discussion of "historical land surface and groundwater loss."
• Temporal Scale: Historical period, not explicitly defined in terms of start and end dates in this commentary.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: A "systematic modelling study" was conducted. Specific model names are not provided in this commentary.
• Data sources: Not explicitly detailed in this commentary, but the underlying modeling study would have utilized historical climate data, irrigation extent data, and hydrological parameters.

Main Results

• Historical increases in agricultural irrigation have led to significant net losses of both land surface runoff and groundwater.
• These irrigation-induced losses are distinct from and exceed the losses caused by climate change.

Contributions

• Provides a systematic quantification of the historical impact of irrigation on land surface and groundwater depletion.
• Clearly differentiates the contribution of irrigation to water loss from that of climate change, highlighting irrigation as a primary driver of historical water depletion.

Funding

• Not specified in this commentary.

Citation

@article{Lambert2025Irrigation,
  author = {Lambert, F. Hugo},
  title = {Irrigation increased historical land surface and groundwater loss},
  journal = {Nature Water},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1038/s44221-025-00560-2},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-025-00560-2}
}