Groundwater—a global focus on the ‘local resource’

• Published in: Current opinion in environmental sustainability Vol. 5; no. 6; pp. 685 - 695
• Main Authors: Foster, Stephen, Chilton, John, Nijsten, Geert-Jan, Richts, Andrea
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.12.2013
• Subjects: aquifers; governance; groundwater; irrigated farming; land use change; monitoring; socioeconomic development; water supply
• ISSN: 1877-3435; 1877-3443
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cosust.2013.10.010

•The dependence on and benefits of groundwater exploitation have only become fully apparent in the last decade.•Large-scale perturbation of groundwater systems has occurred, and concerns about the impacts are steadily increasing.•Too little of the benefits of groundwater development have been re-invested in monitoring.•The availability of data is too patchy to allow a quantitative global assessment of resource status.•Progress has been made on strengthening groundwater governance at the broader policy level. Groundwater is a key natural resource supporting socioeconomic development, but still quite widely misunderstood, undervalued, poorly managed and inadequately protected. Anthropogenic perturbation of groundwater systems accelerated markedly during the 20th century, as a result of massive exploitation for urban water-supply and irrigated agriculture, and radical land-use changes in many aquifer recharge zones. Increasing concerns about resource sustainability, quality degradation and dependent-ecosystem impacts have arisen, but despite notable technological advances it is not straightforward to provide a quantitative global assessment of groundwater status, given its widespread distribution, difficulty of aggregation and inadequate investment in monitoring. The challenge of identifying appropriate governance provisions and of translating these into effective institutional arrangements for local resource administration and quality protection is also considerable, but some successes have been recently achieved. An overview of resource assessment and management trends is presented in a form accessible to the broader environmental sector.