Peak Water has arrived and passed

There is apparently no Peak Water, because it is ubiquitous.  However, for all the water in the world, only 0.007% of all water on earth is accessible for direct human use; lakes, rivers, reservoirs, and underground aquifers.  

In these blogs we considered these issues at length, in Peak Water. And the research done concluded that there is in fact a peak water threshold, and that it had been passed.  

Lasts week there was a little reported announcement about one of the key sources of water, a source in great peril:  underground aquifers.  First, it is worth considering a bit of history, because it shows the slow pace of reform whilst Rome burns [and everywhere else, without any water to sate the fires].  

In 1999, UNESCO and WMO formed an international groundwater centre, IGRAC, launched in 2003.  Netherlands is involved, which seems odd as it would appear that the Netherlands is almost entirely water (and magnificent scenary and people).

In August 2011 it published its second assessment of the status of transboundary waters: covering more than 140 rivers, 25 lakes, and 200 groundwaters (underground aquifers), and 25 other sites of importance. In essence this report identifies and lays the framework for governments to collectively manage joint (transboundary, or my preferred term – cross border) water resources rather than go to war when it is too late.  Especially for countries at different stages of development.  And it is not pretty reading for any region, whether about pollution, river straightening, salt intrusion, or over use (etc).  

The full report can be read here, but it notes that ”there seems to be less information available about aquifers, compared to surface waters in terms of quality and quantity.”  

Now to focus on groundwater.  A new project by this group was launched in September 2011.  It focuses on increasingly unsustainable groundwater use and degradation of aquifers.  On 12 January it launched a Regional Consultation Workshops for the Groundwater Governance Project.  Note this is now 13 year since the founding initiative.

However despite all this time the details on groundwater reserves appear to be scarce.  Almost no media reported the above release despite it being a critical issue, and as I have suggested we are past the peak of use and on the slippery slope down.   

The Australian National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training issued a statement full of facts on 9 January.  Prof.  Craig Simmons says “The world has experienced a boom in groundwater use, more than doubling the rate of extraction between 1960 and 2000.” And   “Groundwater currently makes up about 97 per cent of all the available fresh water on the planet and presently accounts for about 40 per cent of our total water supply. It provides drinking water to cities, is needed to grow much of our food and sustains many industries – yet almost everywhere, there is clear evidence that water tables are falling,” Professor Simmons says. “This means humanity is extracting groundwater much faster than it is naturally replaced.”

And then it gets worse:   “Not many people think of groundwater as a key driver of the global economy – yet it is. If it becomes depleted, entire industries may be forced to shut down or move. Whole regions could face acute water scarcity.”  My underline.

And worse than worse:   “The blunt fact is that most countries and local regions did not know the size of their water resources when then began extracting them, nor how long it took to recharge. In some cases this can take centuries or even millennia. As a result they are now extracting their water unsustainably.”

The release then outlines the risk in China, as our blog referred using the research site China Water Risk, which shows the depletion of groundwater in China, mainly in the north;  and also mentions the land grabs in Africa by Middle Eastern countries.  And more facts:

·         Groundwater supplies 40% of China’s food and 70% of its drinking water – yet water levels in aquifers in some regions are sinking by a metre or more a year.

·         In India the number of wells grew from less than one million in 1960 to 19 million by 2000

·         Groundwater now comprises one-quarter of the US supply and more than half of all Americans rely on groundwater for drinking. Unconstrained drilling of new wells, as many as 800,000 per year, has put incredible strain on aquifers around the US

And of course then there is Bangladesh, where groundwater tables are being plundered out of extinction.

However there is some good news.  On the basis of:  if you can measure it you can manage it. The New York Times reported that : “Scientists have been using small variations in the Earth’s gravity to identify trouble spots around the globe where people are making unsustainable demands on groundwater, one of the planet’s main sources of fresh water. They found problems in places as disparate as North Africa, northern India, north eastern China and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley in California, heartland of that state’s $30 billion agricultural industry.”

This article is a great read with too much detail to put in here.

 The takeaway on all this is first, the press couldn’t care less because groundwater is not sexy.  Carbon is.  But it will be when they get thirsty, when whole industries collapse, when wars start. 

Yet we have passed the point of no return, as our blog suggested.  Peak Water has arrived and passed.  But finally there is hope.  Increasingly we can measure it with accuracy; the framework is emerging to manage cross border groundwater; and let’s hope it all happens before the grandkids ask us what we were thinking when we ignored all the warning signs.