Global Groundwater Sustainability, Resources, and Systems in the Anthropocene

Abstract

Groundwater is a crucial resource for current and future generations, but it is not being sustainably used in many parts of the world. The objective of this review is to provide a clear portrait of global-scale groundwater sustainability, systems, and resources in the Anthropocene to inspire a pivot toward more sustainable pathways of groundwater use. We examine groundwater from three different but related perspectives of sustainability science, natural resource governance and management, and Earth System science. An Earth System approach highlights the connections between groundwater and the other parts of the system and how these connections are impacting, or are impacted by, groundwater pumping. Groundwater is the largest store of unfrozen freshwater on Earth and is heterogeneously connected to many Earth System processes on different timescales. We propose a definition of groundwater sustainability that has a direct link with observable data, governance, and management as well as the crucial functions and services of groundwater. ▪ Groundwater is depleted or contaminated in some regions; it is ubiquitously distributed, which, importantly, makes it broadly accessible but also slow and invisible and therefore challenging to govern and manage. ▪ Regional differences in priorities, hydrology, politics, culture, and economic contexts mean that different governance and management tools are important, but a global perspective can support higher level international policies in an increasingly globalized world that require broader analysis of interconnections and knowledge transfer between regions. ▪ A coherent, overarching framework of groundwater sustainability is more important for groundwater governance and management than the concepts of safe yield, renewability, depletion, or stress.

Hydrologic‐Economic Trade‐offs in Groundwater Allocation Policy Design

“…While stream depletion is one of the primary management concerns in our case study area, elsewhere in the High Plains Aquifer (Butler et al., 2018), and in other groundwater‐dependent systems globally (Gleeson et al., 2020), groundwater depletion is another management concern, which largely attempts to balance rates of pumping and recharge to minimize, avoid, or even reverse long‐term aquifer drawdown. Our results suggest that choice of allocation design can also have important implications for the economic effectiveness of aquifer management strategies.…”

Runoff and focused groundwater-recharge response to flooding rains in the arid zone of Australia

“…It is also noted that extensive fresh groundwater at depths between 830 and 1,220 m has been identified in the Bancannia Basin sediments to the south east of FGAZRS and these are directly contiguous with the sandstones around the bores in the sandstone outcrop. It has been suggested that the deep aquifer is worthy of development in this otherwise arid environment, but development must be preceded by a better understanding of the recharge and groundwater flow paths and processes to allow informed groundwater management (Gleeson et al 2020).…”

Improving the Resolution and Accuracy of Groundwater Level Anomalies Using the Machine Learning-Based Fusion Model in the North China Plain

“…As a significant supply source of freshwater resources, groundwater plays a crucial role in social production and human life [ 1 , 2 ]. Globally, it provides drinking water for approximately two billion people [ 3 ] and irrigation for roughly 40% of areas equipped for irrigation [ 4 ].…”

“…Due to extreme climate episodes and anthropogenic actives (e.g., drought and overuse of irrigation water), groundwater resources are seriously over-exploited in some typical regions [ 5 , 6 ], leading to a series of environmental issues, such as land subsidence and seawater intrusion [ 7 , 8 ]. Therefore, understanding the dynamics changes in groundwater is necessary for the effective utilization and sustainable management of water resources [ 2 , 9 ].…”