The Global Groundwater Statement — A Call to Action cites recent scientific breakthroughs that have highlighted the regional and international importance of the issue as well as global connections and threats to groundwater, which makes up 99 per cent of the Earth’s liquid freshwater.
The Global Groundwater Statement — A Call to Action cites recent scientific breakthroughs that have highlighted the regional and international importance of the issue as well as global connections and threats to groundwater, which makes up 99 per cent of the Earth’s liquid freshwater.
The call goes on to say how groundwater is the drinking water source for more than two billion people worldwide and provides more than 40 per cent of the water for irrigated agriculture, with nearly 1.7 billion people living above aquifers (geological formations that provide groundwater) that are stressed by overuse.
“We are seeing a picture that is incredibly worrisome,” said Famiglietti, executive director of the Global Institute for Water Security and Canada 150 Research Chair in Hydrology and Remote Sensing at USask. “Over half of the world’s major aquifers are past sustainability tipping points and are being rapidly depleted to provide water for irrigated agriculture. Not only is our water security at great risk, but our food security as well.”
The call comes on the eve of United Nations Climate Change Conference in Madrid (COP 25) and the beginning of the Decade of Action on the UN Agenda 2030, as well as the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union, the world’s largest gathering of Earth scientists.
Read more at University of Saskatchewan
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