Groundwater Resource ManagementIntegrating Social and Technical Aspects

B.R. NeupaneRegional Prog. Specialist (S&C Asia) UNESCO

Session Description

Divided in lecture (60 minutes) and discussions Theoretical module

– thus it provides less opportunity to convince– However, provides room to indulge in “discussions”

Cross-referencing– Based on Modules introduction and general contexts

on Planning, concept of demand management, valuing groundwater, gender and groundwater, etc.

Session Objectives

To distinguish and explain “generic” problems that underpins the issue of groundwater management or governance

To highlight major social and technical components of groundwater management

To propose a few outlines for “integration” To provide a set of take-home messages

questions

Mode

Experience based discussions

Discussion 1

Management and Governance – Are these words same?

Distinction (?)

Governance:– Structure of processes for decision making– the source of authority

Management– Structure of processes for ensuring proper

implementation of a decided action– Execution of the duties

Discussion 2: For Groundwater

Is it:– Groundwater governance

Or, is it– Groundwater management

What should we focus?

Let us pick up a newspaper

Any paper Scan the first three pages… We will find something about water

CRITICAL PROBLEMS

Flood Droughts Famine Health hazard Competition Conflicts Groundwater depletion Etc.

Problem noted are:

Less cooperative societies Not Enough Data Lack of use of “New Technology” Uncertain science Poor Coordination No Information Sharing Expert inputs poor Government irresponsible

Humans are changing the global systems in a globally-significant way

without….. adequate knowledge of the system and thus its response to change

CENTRAL TENET

What is Global Change?• Global Change is more than Global Climate Change• It has natural PLUS human/social dimensions• A constellation of changes, many global in domain

For example, we see large changes in:

U.S

. Bu

rea

u o

f the

Ce

ns

us

NOAA Vitousek (1994)

Macken

zie et al (2002)

Ric

ha

rds

(19

91

), WR

I (1

99

0)R

eid &

Mille

r (1989)

LOOMING CRISES

…And this crises is most felt in depleting and deteriorating water resources

Some facts

WWDR 2006 noted that water use has been growing at more than twice the rate of population increase during the 20th century.

By 2025, 60 percent of the world population would be living in urban areas, which is going to pose an increasing pressure both on groundwater quantity and water quality

Reality ….

Water insecurity to many is based on inadequate water of sufficient quantity and quality to meet domestic needs: a precondition for effective primary health.

Most countries still are lagging behind to achieve 2015 goal.

– 45% of the total population still lacks access to safe drinking water

– Agriculture is the mainstay of economy– Growth in secondary and service sector also is suffering due to

poor availability of water– Most cities in suffer from water shortages.

Reality

Numerous water–related diseases plague communities in the developing world

Some parts of the world now faces out migration from communities with scarce low quality drinking water (e.g. Nepal, Bangladesh]).

Agriculture based economies have suffered badly

About 39% of entire world population live in poverty and depravity

Flood

Drought

Landslide

Pollution

Erosion

Endangered Species

We are at risk!

HEALTH

Every day, diarrhea diseases cause some 6,000 deaths, mostly among children under five

FOOD Sufficiency

234 million people in Asia do not have access to sufficient and adequate food

Global Groundwater Overdraft: Change in Cereal Production from Baseline 2025

change in million mt (and percentage)

-1.7

-12.8

-16.2

-27.4

2.7

10.2

-17.2

-2.9

-14.4

-17.4

-34.6

-1.2

-0.5

-35.1

Irrigated

1.2

1.6

1.2

7.2

3.9

10.7

17.9

Rainfed

(-5.7)

(-8.1)

(-4.4)

(-3.9)

(-1.4)

(-0.2)

(-3.0)

(-1.4)(1.6)West Asia/ North Africa

(-4.9)(2.0)India

(-3.1)(0.9)China

(-1.8)(1.1)Developing Countries

(0.6)(1.1)U.S.

(1.0)(1.4)Developed Countries

(-0.7)(1.3)World

Total

change in million mt (and percentage)

-1.7

-12.8

-16.2

-27.4

2.7

10.2

-17.2

-2.9

-14.4

-17.4

-34.6

-1.2

-0.5

-35.1

Irrigated

1.2

1.6

1.2

7.2

3.9

10.7

17.9

Rainfed

(-5.7)

(-8.1)

(-4.4)

(-3.9)

(-1.4)

(-0.2)

(-3.0)

(-1.4)(1.6)West Asia/ North Africa

(-4.9)(2.0)India

(-3.1)(0.9)China

(-1.8)(1.1)Developing Countries

(0.6)(1.1)U.S.

(1.0)(1.4)Developed Countries

(-0.7)(1.3)World

Total

Source: Rosegrant et al. 2002. World Water and Food to 2025: Dealing with Scarcity

Number of Malnourished Children by Region 1997 and 2025 Baseline

85

33

19 18

6 5

60

38

137 4 2

0

20

40

60

80

100

South Asia SSA South EastAsia

China WANA LatinAmerica

1997 2025million children

Source: Rosegrant et al. 2005. Looking Ahead: Long-Term Prospects for Africa’s Food and Nutrition Security (in press)

RISKS

There were 2,200 water-related disasters from 1990 to 2001.

•  Floods: 50%

Korea

Czech

ドイツ

China

Nepal

India

Bangladesh

Bolivia

Haiti/ Jamaica

Uruguay

USA

Mexico

Ecuador

PeruMicronesia

Philippines

Indonesia

Vietnam

Senegal

Ethiopia

Turkey

Austria

Kenya

France Afghanistan

Russia

Sri Lanka

Flood Drought

Major floods and droughts worldwide in 2002Major floods and droughts worldwide in 2002Germany China

USA

KoreaChinaGermany

Kenya

There is pressing need to develop advanced risk management in order to secure human life and ensure sustainable socio-economic development and poverty alleviation.

Let us see the global utilization of water

Surface water development has almost peaked Pollution has dwindled surface water resources The ease of access and flexibility in tapping has

made groundwater a very popular resource

Groundwater as THE solution

The increasing popularity of groundwater stem from various attractive features of it (or our understanding of it):– It can be tapped almost everywhere (technology

permitting)– Local fix– It is comparatively cleaner for consumption (the

effect may not be visible immediately, viz. arsenic)

– Initial capital cost of extracting groundwater is still considered cheaper than the conventional treatment of surface water for consumption.

Thus…

Groundwater is an extremely important natural resource as a primary source for agriculture, domestic, and industrial water supplies in many countries.

In order to maintain the sustainable uses of groundwater resources, evaluations of changes in groundwater quantity and quality are necessary and important.

Groundwater Resource of the world

GW Use by sector (WWDR II)

South and West Asia: Agriculture

Southeast Asia: domestic

East Asia: Industrial

Groundwater development stress (%)

Reported zones with long-term depletion

So how is groundwater linked to society?

Linked to a constellation of social issues– State thus governance– Community thus management– Agriculture/industry/ water supply thus poverty and

livelihood– Partnership thus stakeholdership, gender issues…

Links of the MDGs to groundwater issues

MDGs are not attainable if we don’t exploit available groundwater

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Target 1: Poverty: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than one dollar a day

– groundwater is a factor of production in agriculture, industry and other economic activities

Target 2: Hunger: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger

– groundwater is a direct input to irrigation for expanded grain production

– It aides to the reliable water for subsistence agriculture, home gardens, and livestock

– Reduced urban hunger due to cheaper food prices– Healthy people are better able to absorb the nutrients in food than

those suffering from water-related diseases, particularly worms

Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education

Target 3: Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling– Groundwater improves domestic water supply and lead

to improved school attendance due to improved health and reduced water-carrying burdens, especially for girls

– Facilitates having separate sanitation facilities for girls and boys in schools increases girls’ school attendance

Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women

Target 4: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and to all levels of education no later than 2015– Reduced time, health, and care-giving burdens from

improved water services give women more time for productive endeavors, adult education, empowerment activities, leisure

– Higher rates of child survival are a precursor to the demographic transition toward lower fertility rates; having fewer children reduces women’s reproductive responsibilities

Goal 4: Goal Reduce child mortality

Target 5: Reduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate– Improved quantities and quality of domestic water

and sanitation reduce main morbidity and mortality factor for young children

– Improved nutrition and food security reduces susceptibility to diseases

Goal 5: Improve maternal health

Target 6: Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio– Improved health and reduced labour burdens from

water portage reduce mortality risks– Improved health and nutrition reduce susceptibility to

anaemia and other conditions that affect maternal mortality

– Sufficient quantities of clean water for washing pre-and-post birth cut down on life-threatening infections

Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

Target 8: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases– Aides better water management and reduces

mosquito habitats – reduces incidence of a range of other water-borne

diseases – Improved health and nutrition reduce susceptibility

to/severity of HIV/AIDS and other major diseases

Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability

Target 9. Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources

Target 10. Halve by 2015 (ie in the time period 1990 – 2015) the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation

Target 11. By 2020 to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers

– All of these are linked to groundwater

Discussion 3

IF groundwater utilization is indispensable for our development, then

Who is the custodian of groundwater in our countries?

Do you know who it is for your country? Are continents of Asia, Africa and Americas

comparable??

Technical Issue

In the present times study of groundwater has become an interdisciplinary research

Technical issues are needed manly for:– Creating better base for planning

Hydrological assessments Selection of technologies for identification, development, sustainable

utilization and, more recently, restoration Inevitable cost and benefit evaluation

– Understanding hydrological systems How water fits within the broader hydrological cycle Groundwater behavior when confined within the aquifers

– Understanding hydrogeological chemical systems How water behaves in the aquifers Fluctuation Dissolved Chemical processes Pollutions

In essence

It involves understanding hydrological cycle, climatological conditions, remote sensing, geomorphology, geological information and geophysical properties of groundwater.

– Knowledge of hydraulics and fluid dynamics for ground water assessment

– Understanding of the principles of engineering for groundwater exploitation.

– Comprehensive knowledge of physics and mathematics for developing flow models and understanding solute and mass transport.

– Groundwater quality studies involves a thorough knowledge of Chemistry– Study of sociology and economics for assessing the socio-economic

impact on people in the presence of too little or excess of water– Political science and economics for tackling issues related to water

governance and sustainable development.

New technique as solutions?

Modeling: rainfall-runoff, aquifer,ecosystem and catchment models.

Process models, hydroecological models and management models backed up by decision support systems and expert systems.

Stochastic and deterministic models (both complex as well as (simple lumped and black-box models to very sophisticated physically-based models)

Surface-soil-vegetation-atmosphere interface Model Satellite data (GEOSS)

Discussion 4:

Do you think robust technology gives us a better edge in governing or managing groundwater?

What is happening in Kenya or Nigeria?

let us note!!!

Studies have demonstrated that the sophistication and likeness to reality of a model are no guide to its predictive success (Naef,1981).

Problem of scale exists as the results of a limited experiment carried out over distances of tens of meters have to be extrapolated to kilometres by modeling. Or vice-versa!!

Sprinkling of algebraic symbols is not a solution!!

•Data Bank Closure-- Commercialization of data-- Legislative challenges/IP rights

• Network loss

• Delays in data reduction/reporting

• Worst in developing world

VIGILANCE OF THE RESOURCE IN DECLINE - WMO Global Runoff Data Center Archives

Vörösmarty 2002b

Best global coverage:

20-25 years ago*

*Additional records certainly exist (e.g. national collections) --but currently unconsolidated & often in difficult-to-use, non-digital formats; dedicated global archive is in decline

Vörösmarty 2002a

Is this enough?

Distribution of Hydrological Network

State of our Coping mechanisms(some examples)

1. Most countries do not make distinction between surface and groundwater when making policies or taking decisions (poor judgment)

2. Most countries have not constituted apex institution dealing with groundwater issues. (Institutional weaknesses)

3. IWRM is still a surface water based instrument (based on the countries’ submission to WSSD)

4. In most cases, some guidelines exist but are hardly enforced (implementation weaknesses)

5. A recent survey of school teachers established groundwater as the most misunderstood resource (capacity building needs is at all level)

6. “data rich – knowledge poor” situation.7. Poor regional cooperation – shared aquifers?

Perceived Solution

Groundwater resource management requires the integration of the key hydro geological and socioeconomic elements that determine and control the interaction between water or land use and the groundwater systems – Most easy statement to read– Most difficult to operationalize

MUCH STILL REMAINS TO BE DONE

There is a need for better assessment There is a need to forge wider and better

partnerships There is a need to advance science of

groundwater and be responsible to make that science matter to people and resources.

There is a need to find common platform

Integration of social and technical issues is thus needed for

Improved policy planning Better understanding of resource Increasing participation Better design of regulation and their enforcement Work out a better financing mechanism

A possible framework

May work!

International Hydrological Programme

DEPENDENCIESDEPENDENCIES

SOCIETALSOCIETALRESPONSESRESPONSES

STRESSSTRESS

HYDROLOGICAL CYCLEHYDROLOGICAL CYCLE

GovernancePoverty

Ecosystemsat risk

Social Challenges

Groundwater

How will you apply it?

It is country specific Based on the level of sophistication reached in

social and technical understanding vis-à-vis groundwater

PERTINENT QUESTIONS

How much have we advanced our awareness of groundwater resources?

How can we make this resource as part of the global water-system?

How can we quickly collect information with little effort to generate required responses?

In what directions should we go to further advance the awareness of people?

The challenge we all have

How to put water in the mindsof people?How will you do it?

UNESCO Water Portalhttp://www.unesco.org/water

Thank you