UN Issues Alarming Report on Groundwater Use
The United Nations in its annual report on the state of water in the world has called for more optimal and sustainable use of groundwater. The report states that in most parts of the world, the importance of groundwater in meeting human needs has not been properly understood.
The UNESCO Commission office in Germany, located in the city of Bonn, released a summary of its annual report on the state of water in the world coinciding with the beginning of spring (March 21/Farvardin 1, 1401).
In this report, prepared at the request of the United Nations, special attention is paid to groundwater resources in various regions of the world and their excessive use.
UNESCO emphasizes that in many areas, the importance of groundwater resources in meeting human needs is hardly considered, and these resources are poorly managed.
Devastating Deficiencies in Knowledge and Monitoring
According to the report by “Tagesschau,” the website of German television channel ARD, Ola Burchard, a member of the UNESCO Commission board in Bonn, says the Global Water Report reveals devastating deficiencies in knowledge and monitoring of groundwater reserve use.
The United Nations calls on governments to better protect groundwater reserves and exercise greater oversight in their optimal use.
Groundwater supplies more than half of household water consumption, and its excessive use in many countries worldwide has seriously threatened sustainable universal access to drinking water. In agricultural activities, on average about one-quarter of water needs are met from these sources.
According to Ola Burchard, in many areas of the world groundwater resources are being over-extracted, and the long-term consequences of this are not being heeded.
Risk of Land Subsidence in 500 Iranian Plains
In some parts of the world, the degree of excessive groundwater use is such that there is no possibility of reviving underground aquifers, and excessive water extraction from these aquifers leads to land subsidence in some areas.
Iran is one of the countries that has long faced the phenomenon of land subsidence in vast areas. The Iranian Geological Survey announced last year that of the country’s 609 plains, approximately 500 plains are facing land subsidence, and in some areas land subsidence has even extended into cities.
Website Tejarat News reported last year, quoting Ali Beit-Allahi, director of the Road, Housing and Urbanism Research Center, that Iran ranks fourth among countries in terms of land subsidence, and this phenomenon is observable in almost all plains.
Asia Leads in Groundwater Consumption
According to “Tagesschau,” UNESCO’s latest report indicates that the Asian continent ranks first globally in terms of excessive groundwater use.
The specialized UN agency that operates in educational, scientific and cultural fields emphasized in its annual report that the use of groundwater resources for agricultural activities in Asia is more than double the average consumption on all other continents combined.
It is estimated that in vast areas of China and South Asia, excessive and over-extraction of groundwater resources leads to the rapid depletion of these resources. Moreover, the continuation of this process in some areas has resulted in severe contamination of groundwater resources.
Europe and Groundwater Pollution
The problem of groundwater contamination is not limited only to areas where it is over-used. According to UNESCO’s report, in Europe, which accounts for only six percent of global groundwater consumption, approximately 38 percent of water resources are affected by pollution from agricultural activities.
Contrary to popular belief, excessive use of natural water resources is not the same in all arid and semi-arid regions and developing countries.
Based on the UN’s annual report, in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, vast groundwater resources are not heavily utilized, primarily due to weak infrastructure and lack of equipment and specialized personnel.
UNESCO warns that in the future the importance of groundwater reserves will increase because due to climate change, readily available surface water will continually decline.
Over 2 Billion People Deprived of Reliable Water Sources
The organization predicts that over the next three decades, due to population growth, economic development and changing consumption patterns, annual water consumption will increase by one percent.
According to the UN’s scientific, cultural and educational body assessment, the water crisis can only be managed with the help of groundwater resources, and therefore solutions to strengthen these resources must be placed on the agenda alongside conservation and optimal use. One such solution is the control and direction of seasonal surface water toward underground layers.
The organization estimates that currently 2 billion and 200 million people in the world lack access to reliable drinking water sources.
The full text of this year’s UN report on the state of water will be presented on Monday, Farvardin 1, at a meeting of the Global Water Assembly in Dakar, the capital of Senegal.
Source: DW
