The world has a groundwater problem. Can we solve it?
Groundwater is responsible for about half of the water people use globally. It’s drying up. Hayes Kelman started noticing the family farm in western Kansas was slowly getting less water around the time he was in high school. Now, as an adult and co-owner of Kelman farms, he is acutely aware that there’s a problem: the aquifer he uses to water his crops is being drained faster than it can be refilled. If something doesn’t change, someday it will run out of water.
Today, producer Berly McCoy dives into the state of the world’s groundwater and asks: What happens when people pull too much? And can the damage be reversed?
Check out part 1 of our water series, Day Zero: When the wells run dry.
Interested in more water science? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.
Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
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Today, producer Berly McCoy dives into the state of the world’s groundwater and asks: What happens when people pull too much? And can the damage be reversed?
Check out part 1 of our water series, Day Zero: When the wells run dry.
Interested in more water science? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.
Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy
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Groundwater is responsible for about half of the water people use globally. It’s drying up. Hayes Kelman started noticing the family farm in western Kansas was slowly getting less water around the time he was in high school. Now, as an adult and co-owner of Kelman farms, he is acutely aware that there’s a problem: the aquifer he uses to water his crops is being drained faster than it can be refilled. If something doesn’t change, someday it will run out of water.
Today, producer Berly McCoy dives into the state of the world’s groundwater and asks: What happens when people pull too much? And can the damage be reversed?
Check out part 1 of our water series, Day Zero: When the wells run dry.
Interested in more water science? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.
Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy
Today, producer Berly McCoy dives into the state of the world’s groundwater and asks: What happens when people pull too much? And can the damage be reversed?
Check out part 1 of our water series, Day Zero: When the wells run dry.
Interested in more water science? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.
Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy
2026-03-24
12 min
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