Overexploited, 20% of the world’s aquifers: UN

Latin Press and Sputnik

Newspaper La Jornada
Wednesday, March 23, 2022, p. two

New York., The Secretary General of the United Nations Organization (UN), António Guterres, advocated yesterday for a better use of the world’s groundwater supply in order to advance towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

In his message to commemorate World Water Day, he warned that around 20 percent of the aquifers around the planet are overexploited.

Groundwater reserves account for 99 percent of the Earth’s liquid freshwater, currently providing half the volume of water withdrawn for domestic use and about 25 percent of all the resource used for irrigation, the UN said on its website.

Guterres pointed out that groundwater is out of sight, but we can’t afford to keep it out of mind.

Stored between rocks and soil, groundwater is our largest source of liquid freshwater. It is the sustenance of drinking water supply, sanitation systems, agriculture, industry and ecosystems. However, about 20 percent of the world’s aquifers are overexploited.

We need to improve the exploration, monitoring and analysis of groundwater resources to better protect and manage them and help achieve sustainable development goalsGuterres assured.

However, he stressed, in many places, we just don’t know how much of this precious resource might exist.

Humanity’s demand for water is growing and pressure on water resources is increasing due to overuse, pollution and climate change, the UN chief warned.

Now, droughts and heat waves are becoming more intense and frequent, while the rise in sea level causes the intrusion of salt water into coastal aquifers, the Portuguese diplomat explained.

Water can be a source of conflict, but also of cooperation, and it is essential that work be done to provide better management of all its sources, including the world’s groundwater supply, he stressed.

The next United Nations Conference on Water, scheduled for 2023, will provide a decisive opportunity to promote action on water and sustainable development, considered the Secretary General.

Sustainable development goal number six commits the world to ensuring that everyone has access to safe water by 2030, and includes actions to protect the environment and reduce pollution.