Ideas for groundwater management

Abstract

Groundwater is best described as the world’s real hidden treasure. Almost everywhere it has made a difference in providing safe drinking water and livelihood security in times of drought. Groundwater is the earth’s largest accessible store of fresh water (excluding ice sheets and glaciers) and constitutes about 94% of all fresh water. The volume of groundwater is almost 100 times that of surface water – about 10,530,000 km3. Groundwater is the most reliable source of supply for potable water and supports a wide array of economic and environmental services. Despite the long history of groundwater extraction throughout civilization, it has only been during recent decades that the use of groundwater has grown exponentially. Estimates of global groundwater abstraction between 1950 and 2000 increased to 1000 km3 of water in 2000 with more than 2 billion people depending on groundwater for their daily supply. Not only have population increases and economic growth laid claim to an ever larger share of groundwater, but the quality of the resource is also increasingly under strain. As use of the resource has increased, so has its value and vulnerability, forcing ‘the hidden treasure’ into the spotlight.