Stories
The Permanent Mission of the Republic of Singapore to the United Nations host a water exhibition titled “Building Water Resilience and Sustainability: The Singapore Perspective”, at the United Nations headquarter in New York City. This exhibition, which will be held ...
António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, in his message for World Water Day 2022 said, “Water can be a source of conflict but also of cooperation. It is essential that we work together to provide better stewardship of all water sources, including ...
UN-Water’s Chair Mr Gilbert Houngbo opened today’s World Water Day celebrations with a video message to world leaders and experts from the water sector and beyond. Mr Houngbo said, “For policy-makers in the water sector and beyond, groundwater may be ...
As water scarcity grows across the world due to climate change, groundwater’s immense potential cannot be overlooked. This short video by the UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme promotes the findings of the 2022 edition of the United Nations World Water ...
The UN World Water Development Report 2022 “Groundwater - making the invisible visible” is launched on 21 March 2022 at the opening ceremony of the 9th World Water Forum in Dakar, Senegal. The report and World Water Day 2022 sets ...
The Convention on Biological Diversity has released a video statement to commemorate World Water Day 2022, highlighting how important groundwater is, and will be in the future, to support the global growth in population and to protect natural biodiversity across ...
There is enough groundwater under the continent of Africa for most countries to survive at least five years of drought – and for some, more than 50 years – according to new research by WaterAid and the British Geological Survey ...
The renowned hydrologist Wilfried Brutsaert, also known as Mr Evaporation, has been awarded the Stockholm Water Prize 2022 for his groundbreaking work to quantify environmental evaporation, helping to make accurate predictions of the impact that climate change has on local ...
In this video, David K. Kreamer, Professor of Hydrology at the University of Nevada and President of the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH) delivers a poetic message about groundwater as the Earth’s “hidden underground pulse” and “a concealed lifeblood flowing ...
The 5th Human Rights Youth Challenge, led by the Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, Mr. Pedro Arrojo Agudo, was open to young people aged 16 - 24 inviting them to produce a video ...
“The only time many people really think about groundwater is when things have gone terribly wrong— when they hear about community wells drying up or when toxic chemicals have leached into the groundwater, causing long, arduous walks to distant water ...
According to this article from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), “With a projected increase of 50 percent in the demand for food, feed and biofuels by 2050, relative to 2012 levels, the depletion of groundwater, left ...
On World Water Day, 22 March 2022, a ‘pivot’ event will be held in commemoration of World Water Day. Hosted at the 9th World Water Forum in Dakar, Senegal, the event will be attended by heads of state and prominent ...
The International Water Resources Association (IWRA) will host two World Water Day webinars focusing on “Future gazing: groundwater action as climate action”. Both webinars will discuss the same topic but will include different panelists. The speakers will explore challenges, tipping ...
This new video from WaterAid shows how investment, technology and good governance is unlocking groundwater in East Africa. In this region, groundwater is the most abundant water source but remains mostly untapped. WaterAid and its partners are working with governments ...
Unlike surface waters, groundwater is invisible to the eye and hence often poorly understood. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) uses environmental isotope tracers for water quality assessment and pollution sources tracking, and information on water origin and its fate ...
Through the KnoWat Project, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ (FAO) Rwanda team has been partnering with a local organization to improve water management in the Yanze River basin. Harvesting water for fish production and using solar ...
Even today, with vastly improved sources of data, groundwater governance suffers from large knowledge and awareness gaps that translate into institutional and policy voids, according to this article by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI). Demand for groundwater is increasing ...
Following on from the theme of World Water Day 2022, the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) has produced a new factsheet focusing on self-supply of groundwater, which is the extraction of groundwater by a household, to either fully supply their ...
The Global Water Partnership (GWP) has launched the new ‘GWP ToolBox – IWRM Action Hub’ (IWRM = integrated water resources management). This new platform represents a step-change in providing knowledge and action for water resources management. After wide consultation with ...
Making sure there is enough freshwater to support the 135 million people in one of the driest regions on Earth was the subject of the first ever International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) conference for PhD students held this month. Sixteen ...
To better understand and more sustainably manage groundwater, researchers at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) adopt interdisciplinary approaches to devise holistic solutions for the billions of people who depend on groundwater for survival and who could benefit from the ...
The UN-Water Chair, Mr Gilbert Houngbo, addressed the delegates at World Expo 2020 Dubai Water Week, 20-26 March 2022, with a video message about the importance of groundwater, saying, “Our drinking water and sanitation, our food supply and natural ecosystems ...
In this interview, groundwater expert Dr. Karen Villholth, Principal Researcher at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), explains how groundwater “is an invisible piece of the puzzle to resilience, sustainability, and natural ecosystems,” and “more important today than ever.”
In this short video by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), experts explain how nuclear techniques are being used to monitor and manage groundwater throughout the Central American Dry Corridor, to help avert catastrophic droughts caused by climatic variability in ...
As part of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) will host a webinar called ‘Restoring Freshwater’ on 22 March 2022, World Water Day. This ...
A new, interactive ‘map story’, using data and infographics, paints a picture of water scarcity across the Middle East, with a special focus on groundwater in Jordan. AQUASTAT, the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) global information system on water and ...
In celebration of World Water Day 2022 and the UN World Water Development Report 2022, both on the theme of groundwater, IWHR, IAHR, UNESCO World Water Assessment Program and GWP China are organizing a webinar on 30 March 2022 that ...
This new online course on groundwater management, hosted by Cap-Net, the UN Development Programme’s global network for capacity development in sustainable water management, aims to help participants gain awareness of the importance of groundwater, understand the need to preserve it ...
Mina Guli is an Australian businesswoman and CEO of Thirst, a group promoting water conservation to young people. Mina once ran 62 consecutive marathons to raise awareness of the global water crisis. For World Water Day, Mina is doing a ...
In the African drylands, the predominant view used to be that more trees meant less water soaking into the ground and recharging aquifers. Tree planting was discouraged and in some areas people even uprooted trees. New research paints a more ...
Water-stressed Djibouti receives groundwater from a well-field that may be part of a transboundary aquifer system. International cooperation and joint management to arrange and protect such water supplies are imperative in times of climate change and drought.
The United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) has released a report summarizing the results of a preliminary assessment of water security in 54 countries in Africa considering ten components, including access to drinking water, sanitation, hygiene ...
In this photo story, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) shows how its Climate Change Adaptation teams are solving water challenges all around the world, working with governments and communities worldwide to achieve equitable access to safe and affordable drinking ...
Today, approximately 70 per cent of global groundwater withdrawals are used in the agricultural sector, for production of food, livestock and industrial crops. Monitoring groundwater is critically important to food security. WaPOR, the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) portal, monitors ...
At the World Water Forum, 21-26 March 2022, in Senegal, there will be a ‘Youth Space’ - a place where ideas and solutions converge across generations, sectors and countries. This space will offer young people from all over the world ...
Henk Ovink is the Special Envoy for International Water Affairs for the Kingdom of the Netherlands and global water expert. In this podcast interview with RIMScast, Henk discusses groundwater and World Water Day, and shares the purification methods that have ...
A webinar, called “Groundwater: protecting tomorrow’s resources”, will concentrate on groundwater for human water-supply, discussing its linkages with the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Hosted by the International Water Association (IWA), participants will learn about sustainable groundwater ...
Are you a young isotope hydrology professional interested in fighting climate change? Do you want to help countries around the world protect and preserve their precious water supplies? Then check out this new internship with the International Atomic Energy Agency ...
Groundwater is often referred to as an ‘invisible resource’. Hiding under our feet, it is impossible to tell how much is there, which affects the way it is used and shared between communities and across borders.
Senegal is already water stressed and current water withdrawals are projected to increase by 30 to 60 percent by 2035, while water-related extreme events and pollution cost Senegal over 10 percent of GDP every year. The Dakar area is especially ...
Did you know around 30 per cent of all the water used for irrigation is groundwater? This video from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) outlines the critical role groundwater plays in our farming and food systems ...
Groundwater is the world’s most abundant freshwater resource and a crucial regulator of water extremes such as floods and drought. When we protect groundwater we save lives and ecosystems, improve health, reduce hunger and tackle climate change all at once. This ...
Join ‘Aqua’, a water drop in the ocean that suddenly finds herself evaporating high into the sky and falling down as a raindrop, and eventually swimming through the rocks and soil to the water table far below. This short story ...
From the Spanish Group of the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH-GE), in collaboration with different universities and Spanish public research organizations, a series of educational science activities will be held in different Spanish regions in order to publicize the importance ...
“Stop the Rot” is an initiative to drive evidence-based action to ensure handpump and borehole quality. Set up by the Rural Water Supply Network (RWSN), Ask for Water and Skat Foundation, Stop the Rot is about tackling technical issues, installation ...
This year’s World Water Day webinars from the International Water Resources Association (IWRA) aim to enable global citizens to ‘see’ groundwater and take personal action. The speakers will explore challenges, tipping points and triggers for groundwater resource management, and how ...
The International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH) has released the latest paper in its IAH Strategic Overview Series (IAH-SOS), which draws the attention of a broader audience in the water and development sectors to the critical importance of groundwater for poverty ...
Almost a quarter of the world’s groundwater is used by India. The country’s remarkable rise in agricultural productivity, dubbed the Green Revolution, was based on the development of groundwater resources But now, the country’s aquifers are dangerously depleted and polluted ...
Like many cities impacted by population growth and climate change, Dakar, Senegal, could face a future without enough water for all. To build water security, Dakar is turning wastewater and sanitation byproducts into assets with the help of the private ...
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a strategic partner of the 9th World Water Forum that will take place in Dakar, Senegal, from 21 to 26 March 2022. Below is a selection of key FAO sessions at the Forum ...
The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (UNDER), started last year, is gathering momentum. UNCCD (UN Convention to Combat Desertification) and WOCAT (the World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies) have made a video series that highlights the central role of ...
The UN-Water Summit on Groundwater 2022 aims to bring attention to groundwater at the highest international level. Held in December 2022, the Summit will use the UN World Water Development Report 2022 as a baseline and the SDG 6 Global ...
A catalogue on groundwater management and governance tools, measures and instruments is being developed and will be introduced during the UN-Water Groundwater Summit, to be held in December 2022. The Groundwater Catalogue will be accompanied by a set of international ...
World Water Day is just one of the ways in which the theme of groundwater is being highlighted this year, below are a few groundwater related activities in 2022: 21-26 March 9th World Water Forum: "Water security for peace and ...
The Lions Club of Seregno AID is organising the sixth edition of the World Water Day Photo Contest focusing on the theme of ‘Water - making the invisible visible’. The competition is open to all lovers of photography and to ...
The World Meterological Organization (WMO) generates high quality hydrological data, products and services. WMO’s three Global Hydrological Data Centres help “build a water value chain from data collection to decision”: The Global Runoff Data Centre (GRDC) The International Groundwater Resource ...
A report, commissioned with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), looks closely at the availability, use and management of groundwater in Cambodia. Approximately 50% of Cambodians are dependent on groundwater for drinking during the dry season. However ...
A new book, Managing aquifer recharge: A showcase for resilience and sustainability, published by UNESCO-IHP (Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme) and partners, showcases 28 real-life examples of Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) from around the world. The book, free to download or read ...
There are many benefits to incorporating groundwater into the water supply and the Danish experience provides an ideal case study. Denmark is a leading example of sustainable use and protection of groundwater. In Denmark, drinking water comes entirely from groundwater ...
“The importance and potential of groundwater in our changing world are enormous. Groundwater is invisible, but has a huge impact on livelihoods and the environment. In the driest parts of the world, it may be the only water people have ...
The International Water Resources Association (IWRA) presents “Memory Mayhem: A Groundwater Puzzle Game.” This is an ‘escape the room’ style game that challenges your detective skills while entertaining and teaching about groundwater resources. The game is part of the IWRA ...
Groundwater and climate change must be considered in the same legal context, according to a policy brief from the International Water Resources Association. With the vast majority of the world’s freshwater lying underground, the possible impacts of climate change on ...
The human family and our planet all depend on water for our survival. Yet, 2 billion people lack safe water today. There is a global water crisis and groundwater will play a vital role in solving it. To raise awareness ...
Water Underground Talks is a series of short videos in which groundwater experts from around the world share their passions and latest research. In an interview format, researchers from around the world explain their work on the connections between groundwater ...
Hundreds of millions of people in Africa depend on groundwater for their basic needs. How it is managed and shared in the future will be central to securing people’s lives and livelihoods. Groundwater needs to feature centre stage in policy ...
Climate change is predicted to have a major impact on water resources. Groundwater has always displayed excellent drought resistance, and the presence of aquifers provides a ‘natural solution’ for deployment in change change adaptation. Groundwater management needs ‘strategic rethinking’ to ...
The population of Western Africa is growing rapidly. The population of the region is predicted to increase from around 390 million people today to more than 790 million in 2050. As many of the rapidly expanding cities rely on groundwater ...
Arsenic is a poison that causes many illnesses and can be fatal. An estimated 140 million people in at least 70 countries are exposed to arsenic in drinking water above WHO’s (World Health Organization) guideline value. UNICEF and WHO’s Arsenic ...
Water Science Policy, a global, multilingual platform for water journalism, is launching a groundwater photostory competition, with support from the International Water Resources Association and UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme. If you are up to the challenge of documenting groundwater ...
The IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH) and the International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre (IGRAC), and other partners, are organising a livestream seminar on the past, present and future of groundwater management. Presentations will ...
Groundwater is the most significant, but least understood water resource on Earth, according to the IWRA (International Water Resources Association). In a series of five policy briefs, IWRA experts explore key themes addressing groundwater resilience under climate change: 1. Groundwater ...
For World Water Day 2022, the International Water Resources Association (IWRA) has compiled an insightful list of groundwater articles, published in Water International, IWRA’s peer review journal since 1975.
Groundwater offers great potential for irrigation in most Sub-Saharan African countries, according to a policy brief from the International Water Resources Association. At least 400 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa source their domestic water supply from groundwater. Yet this often ...
Climate change and some anthropogenic activities have reduced the quantity and the quality of groundwater throughout Afghanistan. Hydrogeology in Afghanistan is being recognized as a tool for peace and development. Under the auspices of IAPG (International Association for Promoting Geoethics) ...
Access to water is a fundamental right. Addressing water supply in rural and urban areas will enable communities to access this valuable resource for personal and economic development and protect lives from diseases now and in the future.
In this co-authored blog, the President of the Republic of Senegal, Macky Sall, and the President of the World Bank, David Malpass, outline the water crisis we face and argue that business as usual will not solve our challenges. They ...
The São Paulo-Brussels Groundwater Declaration is based on a survey on groundwater challenges and solutions for sustainable management and awareness. Hundreds of hydrogeologists from all over the world participated in the survey. The analysis of the answers and thought-provoking suggestions ...
Groundwater is not only a story of over-exploitation, depletion and negative impacts. There are locations in which groundwater is managed successfully and problems solved by good cooperation and governance. Between June 2021 and March 2022, the International Water Resources Association ...
The IHE Delft Institute for Water Education’s Student Association is asking people to join the #OneWeekWaterChallenge on Instagram this week up until 22 March 2022. The challenge is to post an Instagram story every day for a water-related challenge.
India is home to 16% of the world’s population, but only holds 4% of the world’s freshwater resources. The extraction of groundwater in India has been on the rise for decades. Over the last 50 years, the number of borewells ...
UNESCO is committed to engaging with youth and young scientists as knowledge holders, change-makers and leaders that contribute to addressing water security. The Groundwater and Settlement Section of the Water Sciences Division of UNESCO is proposing to create a Groundwater ...
The chronic lack of water in the semi-arid regions of southern Madagascar has been exacerbated by frequent droughts which lead to food insecurity and malnutrition crises. UNICEF is leading the implementing of a pilot groundwater early warning system (GEWS) for ...
Groundwater provides over half of the world’s population with domestic water supplies. Groundwater storage is extensive in many places, and acts as a natural buffer against climate variability. However, the quantities that can be abstracted are unevenly distributed, and yields ...
The International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH) and its Korean partners are holding a ‘Groundwater Talk Show’ on the “Evolving Roles of Groundwater in Addressing New Challenges”, which will be online between 10:00-12:00 on 21 March 2022 (GMT + 9 hours) ...
In this article, Yogita Upadya Mumssen, from the Global Water Practice at the World Bank, outlines the water crisis facing Africa, where one in three people are facing water scarcity. Mumssen argues that bolder action is needed to scale up ...
Groundwater management is a big problem for long term water health and sustainability. For World Water Day 2022, Human Right 2 Water (HR2W), a not-for-profit organization, hosted a short discussion between experts on groundwater and human rights to water and ...
In this ‘year for groundwater’, the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH) is highlighting the need to ensure wise use and protection of groundwater resources. The IAH is urging people to think about how much water they use and where it ...
The Limpopo River Basin is the driest it has been for 35 years. It winds its way through four countries – Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. Underneath the landscape are groundwater-holding aquifers. They are at risk of running low ...
This International Water Resources Association webinar brought together experts from around the world to explore different case studies of groundwater law and policy in the context of climate change. The aim of the discussion was to find the cross-sectorial linkages ...
In India, research has found that age-old, decentralized approaches to managing water and watersheds can fail, leaving farmers without sufficient water resources. However, this story from Bundelkhand in central India shows just how rapidly farmers can reap the benefits when ...