Widespread human footprints on groundwater trends across England

Groundwater is a significant part of the global water cycle and an essential water source for domestic, industrial and agricultural use. In England, groundwater supplies ~30% of public water, exceeding 75% in the most densely populated and water-stressed Thames and Southern regions. We analyse groundwater level trends of 2,902 wells across England with 9-189 year records. We show that about half of the stations experience long-term trends or sudden changes. Long-term trends are very spatially heterogeneous. We investigate the links between these trends and various potential drivers and other proxy variables, and find that population density is the primary explanatory factor for increasing trends in densely populated urban areas, and irrigation intensity is the dominant factor for decreasing trends in intensive irrigated areas. Our results demonstrate that the spatial variability of groundwater trends across England is characterised by widespread anthropogenic footprints.