We can't find the internet
Attempting to reconnect
Something went wrong!
Hang in there while we get back on track
Groundwater resources: challenges and future opportunities
Summary
Researchers reviewed the major challenges and future opportunities in managing groundwater — a critical global water resource — emphasizing that sustainable use requires integrating new technologies, improved governance, and awareness of social, economic, and environmental factors unique to each region.
Ensuring the sustainability and security of groundwater resources requires identification of region-specific challenges and solutions to accommodate water needs in diverse sectors, including ecosystems. They are related to extensive variations in natural conditions (e.g. geology, geomorphology and hydrology), human interventions, and political, cultural and socio-economic realities that need to be considered in working towards sustainable development. To achieve this goal, it is important to understand social transformations and societal drivers, as well as management and governance challenges which hinder effective groundwater management and access. Unlocking the future opportunities of groundwater require to integrate the existing knowledge and emerging tools and techniques to explore the unknown resources, and device governance strategies to improve livelihoods and health, build more resilient water futures, and move towards long-term sustainable and equitable groundwater use.
Sign in to start a discussion.
More Papers Like This
Topical Collection: International Year of Groundwater—managing future societal and environmental challenges
Researchers and hydrogeologists highlight the growing importance of groundwater in the global water cycle and call for better assessment, management, and public communication strategies to meet the UN's water-related Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
Groundwater resources: Challenges & solutions
This review examined the global challenges facing groundwater resources, including over-extraction, contamination by agricultural chemicals and microplastics, and salinization. It assessed emerging solutions including managed aquifer recharge, advanced monitoring, and international governance frameworks for sustainable groundwater management.
Groundwater quality: global challenges, emerging threats and novel approaches
This review highlights global groundwater quality challenges including emerging contaminants and antimicrobial resistance, emphasizing the need for significantly improved monitoring to identify and mitigate threats from historical and future pollution sources.
Future Global Groundwater Quality Challenges
This review outlines emerging and legacy groundwater quality challenges that threaten drinking water security globally, including microplastic contamination alongside chemical and microbial pollutants. The authors call for improved monitoring and treatment infrastructure to protect future groundwater supplies.
Groundwater is a hidden global keystone ecosystem
This study presents a global analysis showing that groundwater is a foundational ecosystem that supports over half of the world's land surface areas, yet it remains largely overlooked in conservation efforts. Researchers argue that groundwater should be recognized as a keystone ecosystem because its health directly influences rivers, wetlands, and other surface habitats. The findings call for including groundwater in global biodiversity protection frameworks before further depletion and pollution cause irreversible damage.