Groundwater pumping alters Earth's rotation and gravity
Earth's tilt has changed by 31.5 inches (80 centimeters) between 1993 and 2010 because of the amount of groundwater humans have pumped from the planet's interior. Scientists have discovered that displacing such an enormous amount of water has had an effect on the axis around which the planet spins. The shifts of the rotational pole could contribute to climate change in the long-term, and managing how groundwater moves around the globe could help limit the shifts of the rotational pole and thus the potential climate effects that come with them.
