Today, about 2.2 billion people lack access to safely managed drinking water services and 3.6 billion people lack safely managed sanitation services. The latest World Water Development Report (WWDR) tackle groundwater that has remained under the radar for far too long.
By Yazeed van Wyk, national treasurer, Ground Water Division Groundwater is a major water-supply source and provides almost half of all drinking water worldwide. While it delivers roughly 40% of water for irrigated agriculture, this figure can be much higher considering that half the water flowing in rivers come from groundwater as baseflow. Furthermore, groundwater provides about a third of the water supply required for industry and also sustains biodiversity and terrestrial ecosystems. It is a strategic resource and an important component to adapt to the threats associated with climate change. Despite these impressive statistics, groundwater is out of sight and often out of mind for most people. Human activities (including population- and economic growth), poor land use planning, and climate change are putting pressure on groundwater resources. Serious depletion and contamination problems are reported for many parts of the world due to this lack of understanding, including South Africa. Locally, groundwater plays a pivotal role in ensuring water security. It supplies approximately 13% of the total water supply but often provides up to 100% of water supply to some areas. It is thus a resource of strategic importance. The Water Research Commission has been a driving force in setting the research agenda for groundwater in the country for just over half a century. With a core focus to promote, create, and disseminate knowledge and innovation on the optimal and sustainable utilisation of South Africa’s groundwater resources through coordinated research activities. Increased dependence on groundwater Cities internationally are becoming increasingly reliant on groundwater, and right now roughly 50% of all urban populations worldwide rely on groundwater. This dependence will intensify, particularly in the rapidly urbanizing areas of developing countries and emerging economies. As dependence on groundwater increases, how sustainably can it be used?As an example, how many cities are sinking faster because of aquifer compaction (over-abstraction) than sea level rise? This is something that has never been published in an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report showing that cities are sinking because of groundwater over pumping. Cape Town is actively developing the Table Mountain Group (TMG) and Cape Flats Aquifers to increase long-term water security. This is in direct response to the unprecedented multi-year drought which dramatically reduced surface runoff into the main water supply dams. The drought serves as a case in point and gives us a sense of how we are on a definitive trajectory to a drier climate and that we will reach the1.5°C average rise in global temperatures a lot sooner than expected.
