For years, conservationists have warned that too much drinkable water is being extracted from the aquifer — a critical repository deep below Long Island — but there wasn't a lot of recent data to define the extent of the problem.
That was until an eight-year study released in August found the aquifer is "under stress," leading to saltwater intrusion, draining of some groundwater-fed streams and abandonment of degraded public wells. The authors of the study, a collaboration between the U.S. Geological Survey and the state Department of Environmental Conservation, note some of these problems date back decades and have been exacerbated by climate change.
