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  • In Europe’s water wars, super rich play by their own rules

    Local leaders, struggling to get wealthy residents to abide by water restrictions, are calling for the EU and national governments to help control water demand with measures ranging from rethinking water pricing systems to overhauling how drinking water is distributed between residential homes, industry and agriculture. According to the European... read more...

  • As Armenian Fish Farming Expands, a Pristine Aquifer Is Drying Up

    In recent decades, aquaculture has proliferated in Armenia’s Ararat Valley. The heightened use of water, combined with a warming climate and increased drought, has led to groundwater reserves shrinking by two-thirds, once-bountiful farms withering, and wells going dry. Find out more https://e360.yale.edu/features/armenia-fish-farms-groundwater-agriculture read more...

  • Indonesia falls short on peatland restoration, risking destructive fire season

    After devastating wildfires ravaged through Indonesia’s tropical peatlands in 2015 and left more than $16 billion in damages, the country launched an ambitious plan to restore this key ecosystem. This is part of the government’s climate strategy. The definition of “restoration” is taken to be when groundwater levels have been... read more...

  • Writing on the wall: Groundwater exploitation is triggering subsidence in Indo-Gangetic plain

    The Indo-Gangetic plain, which has stratified layers of sand and clay, is highly prone to subsidence from over-exploitation of groundwater. When the amount of groundwater extracted year after year is so much more than the rainfall that recharges the aquifer, the land can collapse and subside. Groundwater extraction has also... read more...

  • Groundwater management skills are flowing out of SA and metros are doing nothing to stop the loss

    More than half of South Africa’s population relies on groundwater for its water supply, but a failure to secure the skills needed for the management of this critical resource at a local government level is threatening our ability to respond to the impacts of climate change and other drivers of... read more...

  • ‘Even rains don’t help’: Groundwater crisis acute in Karnataka

    Experts believe that rainfall deficit is just one of many reasons behind the depletion of groundwater levels in Malnad and Coastal Karnataka, where water was easily available in the past. Deforestation, concretisation, over-exploitation of groundwater for agriculture and poor rainwater harvesting systems are equal culprits. As a result, even places... read more...

  • The subterranean chemistry that explains India’s groundwater contamination

    Vajinder Kumar, a Chemist at Akal University, reports that ‘Malwa is known as the cancer belt of Punjab’. Many residents also suffer from other conditions linked to water contaminated with excess fluoride and arsenic. Fluorosis is characterised by dental and crippling bone problems, while arsenicosis or arsenic poisoning is characterised... read more...

  • Reducing pollution in EU groundwater and surface waters

    Environment Committee MEPs adopted their position on new laws that revise the Water Framework Directive, the Groundwater Directive and the Environmental Quality Standards Directive (Surface Water Directive). The aim of the revisions is better protection for human health and natural ecosystems from pollutants. The revisions include a watch list of... read more...

  • We’ve changed Earth’s spin by pumping groundwater

    A new study shows that our human pumping and relocating of groundwater has slightly shifted Earth’s mass – thereby slightly changing Earth’s spin – and causing Earth’s rotational axis to increase its rate of wandering. Groundwater withdrawal for agriculture, mining, or household use, for example, has caused a slight-but-noticeable shift... read more...

  • The Hidden Wealth of Nations: Groundwater in Times of Climate Change

    Groundwater is our most important freshwater resource, but the lack of systematic analysis of its economic importance has evaded attention from policymakers and the general public–threatening the resource. The Hidden Wealth of Nations: The Economics of Groundwater in Times of Climate Change report, published by the World Bank, offers new data and... read more...

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