Final answer:
Water is lost from the soil through evaporation, transpiration, and percolation. Intensive agriculture can accelerate these losses by depleting organic matter in the soil. Conservation practices can mitigate water loss by enhancing soil's water retention capacity.
Step-by-step explanation:
Water is lost from the soil through several processes, including evaporation, transpiration (from plants), and percolation (into the subsoil and bedrock forming groundwater). Intensive cultivation can exacerbate these losses by reducing soil's organic matter content, which is crucial for water retention, leading to decreased absorption and increased runoff, erosion, and pollution.
To reduce the loss of water from soil, measures can be implemented such as maintaining soil organic matter, using mulches, appropriate irrigation techniques, and soil cover to minimize evaporation, and planting vegetation to reduce runoff and enhance transpiration.