ASU professor wins United Nations award for using NASA satellites to map groundwater

An Arizona State University sustainability expert will receive an award from the United Nations for his work using NASA satellites to map groundwater.

ASU Global Futures professor Jay Famiglietti will be presented with a Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water at the U.N. office in Vienna later this year.

His research uses Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, or GRACE, satellites to create maps that track groundwater movement.

“The GRACE satellites allow us to track regions of the Earth that are gaining, losing water on a monthly basis,” Famiglietti told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Friday.

The NASA satellites launched in 2002 and have been mapping groundwater for more than two decades.

What do NASA satellites reveal about groundwater depletion?

The findings are concerning.

“We’re seeing groundwater depletion in over half of the world’s major aquifers, including in the Southwestern United States, including in Arizona, in the Colorado River water basin,” Famiglietti said.

However, Arizona’s groundwater is faring better than some other regions in the U.S.

Famiglietti said California is losing the most groundwater, followed by the Southern High Plains Aquifer and Southern Ogallala Aquifer near Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.

“We don’t rank near the top, but the problem is we don’t have that much. We don’t have the resources that those regions do, and so we have to be extremely careful,” Famiglietti said.

Famiglietti’s research group is called Water Innovations for a Sustainable Earth, or WISE.

Data is used to better manage groundwater

The data is shared with government agencies so they can better manage groundwater, including the Arizona Governor’s Office of Resiliency, which has helped fund the project.

Famiglietti said Gov. Katie Hobbs has used the information to expand groundwater protections in Arizona through the expansion of Active Management Areas.

“And it’s not about taking people’s water away. I think it’s about protecting what we have for future generations,” Famiglietti said.

Only 18% of the state by area has groundwater protections.

It costs about $2.5 million to run the groundwater mapping program each year.

Funding from the Governor’s Office of Resiliency expires at the end of July, but Famiglietti said the research will continue with private-sector and federal financial support.

“It’s been a powerful tool to raise awareness of what’s going on not only in Arizona, but around the world,” Famiglietti said.

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