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Read, Debate: Engage.
| topic: | Sustainable Consumption |
|---|---|
| editor: | Bob Koigi |
Editor’s Note: This article is part of our groundwater campaign, in observance of the UN Water Day. Find more groundwater-related articles here.
As the global population burgeons, triggering the need to grow more food, and climate change takes a toll on water supplies on the planet’s surface, the world’s population is focusing on groundwater to meet the unprecedented demand for reserves to offer a year-round supply of clean and fresh water for both rural and urban populations.
Yet groundwater resources, from aquifers, springs and streams, continue to be threatened by human activities, such as overuse and pollution.
As water scarcity continues to bite and countries that were traditionally known to have an abundance of water supplies suffer unprecedented scarcities, the world is tapping into underground water to replenish supplies and bolster their drought defences.
In Africa, for example, groundwater reserves are approximately 20 times larger than lake and reservoir water, pointing to the huge potential that they hold.
Africa is among the continents that have had to contend with protracted water wars as supplies dwindle and demand grows. With surface water resources depleted, there is potential danger of conflict over underwater reserves, especially those in transboundary areas.
Yet, water is a resource that can be used as a source of regional cooperation, adaptation to climate change and resilience building.
To achieve this, there is a need for a change in strategy and tact. For starters, there has to be a deliberate effort to have groundwater at the centre of sustainable development policy-making among nations and institutions. We need to invest in long-lasting innovations, infrastructure and embrace legislative and institutional reforms.
Most importantly we need to actively engage citizens across all levels by making them change how we share, save, tame water loss and also value water. In these unprecedented times, we must work together to protect our groundwater resources.
Photo by Johnny Briggs
