Groundwater Management

Just as surface water would need to be planned and managed according to the appropriate system – e.g. the basin, watershed, or catchment corresponding to rivers, streams, and wadis, in the same manner, groundwater needs to be managed in terms of its corresponding system – e.g. an aquifer – whether unconfined, confined or fossil. Often, these aquifers also need to be considered as part of the larger water system including climate, surface water, pumping, water use, and the associated components of a water balance and activities that may impact on water quality.

Groundwater, the Hidden Resource from IGRAC.

Management of groundwater is a significant challenge globally. In light of the importance of groundwater in contributing to water and food security of communities, and the concurrent unsustainable use and pollution of groundwater in many regions, effective groundwater management is critical across several areas: groundwater depletion (including in non-renewable fossil aquifers), which has consumption impacts but also subsidence and seawater intrusion effects; groundwater-related flooding (where the groundwater table recharges quickly and the water table is higher than the land); conjunctive use of groundwater and surface water supplies; managed aquifer recharge; and groundwater management as part of overall watershed/basin management.

The difficulty in managing this “invisible resource” is due to a combination of information, institutional, and investment challenges.

Information

Information on groundwater demand, supply, and use is essential to sustainable groundwater management. This includes monitoring and analytics required to provide insights for an understanding of the groundwater systems, improve awareness, and inform longer-term planning and shorter-term operational decision support for sustainable groundwater management.

While groundwater is extensively used globally, it is a poorly understood resource due to measurement challenges. Sustainable use of groundwater resources is critical to maintaining food production and climate resilience in many parts of the world. Sustainable use, however, relies heavily on knowledge about the groundwater resource: how much groundwater there is in a particular aquifer, how fast it is recharging and where the groundwater is moving (flow), and how withdrawals for agriculture and other purposes are affecting the long-term supply (stock) of the resource. Understanding the social, economic and policy drivers of groundwater use are also critical to assessing the resource.

Groundwater flow and aquifer properties cannot be measured directly but are determined through indirect measurements. Groundwater moves in the structured aquifer system that acts as a reservoir and conveys water slowly. Aquifer properties such as extent, volume, boundaries are inferred from geologic properties. Groundwater flow cannot be assessed directly but rather is estimated with models based on wellhead elevation measurements and hydraulic gradient over time.

Data on in-situ measurement of groundwater levels is very scarce and not usually publicly available (especially in the Mashreq) as shown by the Global Groundwater Monitoring Network. Most countries will not have easy access to aquifer characteristics and dynamics that can be used to explore future scenarios and management options.

Water quality is just as important as water quantity in determining the useability of groundwater. Water quality is a crucial part of water resources since water quality can determine use. Each type of water usage has its own water quality standard since drinking water standards would be higher than agricultural water standards. Maps of groundwater quality can only represent one aquifer which is typically the upper aquifer.

Groundwater quality in the natural environment occurs from the recharge process and climate. Changes to groundwater quality begin during the infiltration process with other ensuing changes occur as groundwater is conveyed through the aquifer through adsorption. Climate can increase the concentration of water quality through evaporation. Poor water quality occurs from excessive concentrations of dissolved solids, but it can also occur from bacteria, humic and fulvic acid, and tannins.

Unfortunately, in-situ measurement of groundwater and its public availability is even more scarce and often not done routinely in many parts of the world, including the Mashreq.

Overall, poor data availability in the public domain is a problem that is of special concern to the Mashreq as highlighted in many global assessments.

Institutions

A critical requirement for effective and sustainable groundwater management is the ability of institutions to work effectively across spatial (e.g. local, provincial, national, regional) hydrologic and administrative boundaries and sectoral (e.g. agriculture, domestic, industrial, hydropower, environmental, social, economic and other) perspectives. This requires both appropriate institutional frameworks as well as the required capacity and supporting policies and instruments to effectively and sustainably manage groundwater resources. Instruments can range from incentives (e.g. for water conservation), payments for ecosystem services, to more complex water markets. Staffing with adequate skills and partnerships are also critical elements of institutions to effectively manage and invest in groundwater.

Investments

Sustainable and productive groundwater use can be facilitated through appropriate investments on the ground. These can include investments in monitoring, institutional infrastructure, as well as infrastructure related to water storage (dams, underground dams), managed aquifer recharge, water quality management, water use reduction (e.g. efficiency improvements in conjunction with policy tools like total water use caps and water administration), coordinated water infrastructure planning and operations, and social safety nets. Often, groundwater management in aquifers is closely linked to surface water management in corresponding surface water watersheds (although the boundaries of these systems will not match) and will need to be considered in a larger spatial, hydrologic context.

As groundwater sources are depleted, long-term sustainable development is threatened and there is a need to take urgent measures relating to new or retrofitting investments and their operation to ensure improved water security. For example, in the agricultural sector that consumed most of the water in the Mashreq countries, these measures could include:

  • A shift of cropping choice to more drought resistant crops.
  • Improving irrigation systems through technology to less water intensive systems.
  • Improving the skill-base of farmers to shift from water-intensive agriculture.
  • Integrating water policies and planning with that of other sectors, as water connects to other sectors.
  • Applying circular economy principles to water management.

There is a need to evaluate such development and climate scenario- based investment planning in a holistic manner considering technical, environmental, social, economic, financial, institutional, and other sustainability aspects.

The historical and current challenges in these three Is of groundwater management can be reimagined with the help of rapidly evolving technologies.