The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization said, on Monday, that untapped groundwater resources offer a vast potential in alleviating the demand for ever-scarcer water supplies across the world.
In a report, the cultural agency stated that about 99 per cent of all of the liquid groundwater on Earth was groundwater, adding that the resource was, however, often poorly understood or undervalued.
“In the context of growing water scarcity in many parts of the world, the vast potential of groundwater and the need to manage it carefully can no longer be overlooked,” the report said.
UNESCO said, that, driven by population growth and demand from industry and agriculture, water consumption was expected to increase by one per cent annually over the next 30 years.
The UNESCO Director-General, Audrey Azoulay, stated that humans were increasingly polluting or drying up existing water resources, “sometimes with irreversible consequences”.
“Making smarter use of the potential of still sparsely developed groundwater resources, and protecting them from pollution and overexploitation, is essential to meet the fundamental needs of an ever-increasing global population and to address the global climate and energy crises,” she said.
Groundwater currently constitutes about 50 per cent of the water withdrawn for domestic use worldwide, and 25 per cent of the volume used for irrigation, according to UNESCO.
However, governance of the resource is often poor and there is a shortage of technical expertise in some parts of the world, notably in sub-Saharan Africa.
Among other things, UNESCO also urged better data collection for groundwater resources, suggesting that oil, gas and mining firm should share their in-house data with public authorities.
The UN agency released the 248-page report at the start of the World Water Forum, which was taking place in the West African state of Senegal and ended on Friday.
AFP
