IWRA Proceedings

Why is groundwater unique?

1. Buffering capacity
2. Quality
3. Invisible

“The water and sanitation crisis demands a holistic, systemic and multilateral response. Water is required to deliver almost all other SDGs, from global health to food security, and it is essential for resilience to climate change.”

Secretary General António Guterres

Accelerators

1. Optimized financing fully funded plans leading to services where they are needed most.
2. Improved data and information to inform decision making and increase accountability.
3. Capacity development in people and institutions to improve and expand services.
4. Innovation new practices and technologies scaled up.
5. Governance improved across sectors and national boundaries to make SDG 6 everyone’s business.

Main challenges for groundwater depending societies in view of climate change?

• Salinity (anthropogenic contamination)
• Recharge (anthropogenic over-exploitation)

WHY GROUNDWATCH

1. Groundwater is the largest liquid freshwater reservoir on earth;
2. Groundwater is mostly an invisible resource;
3. Human activities have large impacts on groundwater resources;
4. Global and climate change may further increase these impacts;
5. Groundwater plays a fundamental role in adaptation and mitigation;
6. There are feedback mechanisms between climate, groundwater, surface water and land use;
7. Management of groundwater resources improves through increased understanding;
8. Increased understanding requires education on knowledge and skills in the field of hydrogeology, global change, impacts and adaptation.

Thematic areas of GROUNDWATCH

1. Hydrogeology
2. Groundwater data collection, interpretation and modelling
3. Climate processes and modelling
4. Groundwater surface water climate interactions
5. Integrated river basin and water resources management
6. Groundwater and environmental impacts
7. Groundwater, society and policies
8. Groundwater in adaptation to global change