A call for better understanding of groundwater resources is imperative
for development of groundwater industry, reports REMMY NWEKE. Excerpts.
Preamble:
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| UNESCO DG, Irina Bokova: |
As the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), United
Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) alongside the
World Bank, Global Environment Facility (GEF) and International Association of
Hydrogeologists joint meeting kicks off this week under the aegis of 7th World
Water Forum in Daegu and Gyeongbuk one thing that has reverberated lately is
the need to ensure globally that actions on irreversible ground water depletion
is averted.
A United States-based hydrologist with Geological Survey in
Sacramento, California, Steven Phillips, had
defined
groundwater as “… any water that lies in aquifers beneath the land surface.”
Although experts at the National Centre for
Groundwater Research and Training (NCGRT) with headquarters at Flinders
University, Adelaide, Australia, also defined groundwater as water that is located below the
earth's surface.
Ultimately, water
from rain and rivers migrates through the ground and is stored in porous soils
and rocks. The study of groundwater is known as hydrogeology, while issues
pertaining to groundwater could affect the challenges or otherwise of climate
change, depending however, on how its managed and taken seriously.
Groundwater most poorly understood aquifers:
NCGRT experts informed
NaijaAgroNet that groundwater is
found in vast quantities filling the spaces between grains of soil or rock; it
slowly flows through aquifers; connects with rivers, streams, lakes and
wetlands; feed trees and vegetation.
They cited Australia as a very old continent, and much of
its
groundwater
is tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of years old. For example, the
Great Artesian Basin in central Australia is the largest aquifer of its kind in
the world, covering 22 per cent of Australia, and containing water that is more
than a million years old.
Groundwater, NCGRT experts said, makes up 98 per cent of the
fresh water on the planet. It currently makes up around a third of our total
water consumption, although this varies from location to location. In the
Northern Territory, 90 per cent of water is sourced from aquifers, while the
highest concentration of groundwater use is in the Murray–Darling Basin.
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| FAO's Moujahed Achouri: |
Experts went onto to inform
NaijaAgroNet that in spite of its
importance, groundwater is poorly understood and often undervalued. This may in
part derive from the nature of groundwater: a complex, hidden resource that is
difficult to conceptualise.
The area where water fills the aquifer is called the
saturated zone (or saturation zone). The top of this zone is called the water
table. The water table may be located only a foot below the ground’s surface or
it can sit hundreds of feet down.
Global community must
work against depletion:
NaijaAgroNet
recalls that as prelude to the meeting, calls have come from the aforementioned
organisation for action by the global community to manage the increasingly
urgent depletion and degradation of limited groundwater resources.
They also proposed a set of principles governments could use
for better groundwater management, including the 2030 Vision and Global
Framework for Action which represents a bold step for collectively responsible
action among governments and the global community to guarantee sustainable use
of groundwater.
NaijaAgroNet gathered that for too long, groundwater
governance has remained an area of policy neglect, resulting in its degradation
and depletion. Just as global groundwater abstraction reportedly tripled over
the past 50 years, as experts claimed that over a fourth of current withdrawal
is non-sustainable and spread groundwater pollution has threatened humans and
the environment.
Most urban aquifers, experts argued, have suffered from
sanitation issues while coastal aquifers are exposed to saline water intrusion,
even as industrial pollution, pesticides and fertilizers also find their ways
into reservoirs.
The amount of renewable groundwater, therefore, NCGRT
experts led by its director, Professor Craig Simmons stated, is unevenly distributed
across regions. Some areas, especially those with low rainfall, are at risk
more than others. Withdrawal intensity is highest in large parts of China,
India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran, the US, Mexico and Europe. This could result
in lost freshwater reserves at a time when groundwater storage is critical for
sustaining water security and adapting to climate variability.
Building industry
around groundwater:
To build an industry around groundwater will amount to near
perfect understanding of groundwater and obviously understanding its
importance, hence there is need to define an aquifer, which is an underground
geological formation which transmits and contains appreciable quantities of
groundwater.
Water in the ground travels, experts say, flow slowly through
pores or fractures, depending on the type of sediment or rock material the
aquifer is made of.
Aquifers could vary prominently in the quality and quantity
of water they hold and the extent of their connectivity with other aquifers or
surface water bodies.
Equally essential is to know there are two main types of
aquifers, according to experts, namely the ‘unconfined’ and ‘confined'
Unconfined aquifers:
And unconfined aquifers are characterised by the absence of
a low-permeability thereby confining a layer above them. Their watertables are
typically close to the surface and roughly follow the changes in the land
surface.
These aquifers are an
important
source of groundwater in Australia, for instance, because of their relative
shallowness and hence ease of access. Just as in low-lying areas, groundwater
from these aquifers is often released as natural springs, streams and wetlands.
Confined aquifers:
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| GEF's Naoko Ishii: |
Confined aquifers, thus are permeable rock units deep under
the ground and overlain by less permeable layers. Replenishment occurs in areas
known as recharge zones where the aquifer is unconfined and which may be a long
distance from the confined portion of the aquifer.
Experts at NCGRT explained that pressure from the recharge
zones creates high water pressure in the aquifer beneath the confining layer.
Sometimes the pressure is so great that, where there is a break in the confining
layer, water will naturally rise and bubble to the surface without the need of
a pump. This is called artesian flow.
They said, watertable in a confined aquifer is called the piezometric
surface and does not necessarily follow the land surface.
In response to the
essence of groundwater, a Senior Director, World Bank Group Water Global
Practice, Mr. Junaid Ahmad, noted that since time immemorial humans have sought
water from the soil, “But we have moved from a village being based around a
well to whole cities and industries being built around groundwater.
“We have learned how to dig ever deeper, pump ever harder,
and how to turn deserts into breadbaskets. But we have done this without
considering the rate at which our groundwater is recharged, and so we should
not be surprised when our wells run dry. Much as we have invested in pumps and
crops, so now we must invest in groundwater governance," Ahmad said.
GEF wants urgent
action on groundwater:
The chief executive officer and Chairperson, Global
Environment Facility (GEF) Naoko Ishii, noted that her team and world at large,
could no longer take this invisible but vital source for granted, hence urgent
action is needed to ensure its long term availability.
“We look forward to joining hands with partner agencies and
countries to ensure water for drinking, food, cities, energy and industrial
uses is available for generations to come,” she said, declaring “Sustainable
management of groundwater is key to maintaining ecosystems and adapting to climate
change.”
NaijaAgroNet
reports that in response to the urgency of the situation, a product of four
years of consultations with stakeholders from over 100 countries; these
principles focus on legal and institutional frameworks, policies, and plans as
well as information and incentive structures for sound and effective
groundwater management.
No doubt, this process signals strengthened collaboration
across the international community to understand the barriers to better
groundwater governance and address key regional challenges.
Moujahed Achouri, Director, Land and Water Division at the
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) intimated
NaijaAgroNet that collective and
coordinated action is urgently needed to protect and prolong the integrity of
aquifers.
He stressed the cost of inaction could be enormous, because this vision
and framework are urgent calls to decision-makers to act now with the right
political decisions to help reach globally shared goals of social and economic
development”.
For the UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bokova, to make
groundwater governance a reality, it is necessary to foster cooperation among
countries, especially on transboundary aquifers. Pointing out that “Water
directly influences our future, we must work together to manage this precious
resource more sustainably."
Conclusion:
In summary, groundwater is indispensable to poverty
reduction and shared prosperity, mostly looking at its accounts for over a
third of municipal and industrial supply and some 40 per cent of the global
irrigated area is serviced by groundwater.
According to experts, groundwater has the potential to
provide an improved source of drinking water for millions of urban and rural
poor people. Yet, many poor farmers and their families depend on it to irrigate
their crops and sustain their livelihoods.
The 2030 Vision and Framework for Action which provides the
enabling framework and guiding principles for a coordinated action among
governments and organizations should be upheld in order to achieve the goals of
this vision for a definite better water and groundwater management as part of
the efforts at combating climate change.
... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology
Pix: UNESCO D-G, Irina Bokova; Chairperson, GEF, Naoko Ishii, & Moujahed Achouri, Director, Land and Water Division, FAO.
