Groundwater governance: rationale, definition, current state and heuristic framework

Villholth, Karen G.; Conti, Kirstin I.

doi:10.1201/9781315210025-1

Cited by 24 publications

(28 citation statements)

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“…(Theesfeld, 2010) suggest other attributes of groundwater compared to surface water that are important in governance and management including that: 1) groundwater depletion or contamination can be irreversible; 2) there are often significant time lags between pumping and the impact of pumping; 3) groundwater system boundaries are often poorly constrained; 4) hydrogeologic uncertainty is often large; 5) pumping is often distributed broadly across regions; 6) data is often sparse and poor; and 7) information is asymmetrically held by organizations rather than individual users. Other useful descriptors of groundwater resources is invisible, slow-moving and distributed (Villholth & Conti, 2018) -we explore the implications of these characteristics below (Section 2.4). Numerous concepts have been proposed in physical groundwater hydrology to quantity groundwater sustainability of resources that we review next.…”

Section: Groundwater Sustainability and Resources 21 What Are Sustainability And Natural Resources?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Management is the implementation of rules and measures that have been outlined by governance to achieve the defined goals. Water management includes the practical day to day activities that promote the water governance framework; as a result, water management is more limited in scope and includes fewer actors than water governance (Villholth & Conti, 2018). More specifically, groundwater management is the implementation of established rules and measures to develop and use groundwater resources sustainably (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations et al, 2016).…”

Section: Implementing Groundwater Sustainability With Governance and Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(4) To define good groundwater governance, local and regional information is critical. Generally, there is a positive relationship between the wealth of countries and their advancement of governance and management (Villholth & Conti, 2018). In places where data are limited and laws have not been formally established, management may be limited, but governance can still be established or evolving through local knowledge of aquifers and customary procedures (Villholth & Conti, 2018).…”

Section: Implementing Groundwater Sustainability With Governance and Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Global Groundwater Sustainability, Resources, and Systems in the Anthropocene

Gleeson

Cuthbert

Ferguson

et al. 2020

Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci.

256

125

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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.

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Section: Groundwater Sustainability and Resources 21 What Are Sustainability And Natural Resources?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Implementing Groundwater Sustainability With Governance and Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Implementing Groundwater Sustainability With Governance and Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Global Groundwater Sustainability, Resources, and Systems in the Anthropocene

Gleeson

Cuthbert

Ferguson

et al. 2020

Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci.

256

125

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Worldwide, scientific knowledge in hydrology and geology has expanded, but the governing institutions responsible for making decisions about groundwater have been slowly improved [108,109]. Moreover, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has expressed that "the current water crisis is not a crisis of scarcity but a crisis of mismanagement, with strong public governance features" [110][111][112].…”

Section: Legal Framework and Public Policies For Marmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Overview of Managed Aquifer Recharge in Mexico and Its Legal Framework

Cruz-Ayala

Megdal

2020

Water

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In Mexico, one hundred of the 188 most important aquifers dedicated to agriculture and human consumption are over-exploited and 32 are affected by seawater intrusion in coastal areas. Considering that Mexico relies on groundwater, it is vital to develop a portfolio of alternatives to recover aquifers and examine policies and programs regarding reclaimed water and stormwater. Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) may be useful for increasing water availability and adapting to climate change in semi-arid regions of Mexico. In this paper, we present an overview of water recharge projects that have been conducted in Mexico in the last 50 years, their methods for recharge, water sources, geographical distribution, and the main results obtained in each project. We found three types of MAR efforts: (1) exploratory and suitability studies for MAR, (2) pilot projects, and (3) MAR facilities that currently operate. This study includes the examination of the legal framework for MAR to identify some challenges and opportunities that Mexican regulation contains in this regard. We find that beyond the technical issues that MAR projects normally address, the regulatory framework is a barrier to increasing MAR facilities in Mexico.

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“…However, it employs as a simple and initial working definition the one put forward by Megdal, Gerlak, Varady, and Huang (, p. 2) “the overarching framework of groundwater use laws, regulations and customs, as well as the processes of engaging the public sector, the private sector, and civil society.” While building on this, it emphasizes the need to reshape the understanding of the concept and placing it more explicitly in a debate towards solving fundamental natural resource allocation and use challenges in broader contexts of governance. Authors have put forward a variety of arguments to approach the governance of groundwater as separate from surface water governance, from the various distinctive attributes of groundwater as a natural resource (invisible with slow flows and distributed occurrence with open access opportunities) to the type of technology, financing, and energy used to appropriate it (Schlager & López‐Gunn, ; Villholth & Conti, ). This has created the opportunity for a substantial body of literature to establish itself around the various aspects and facets of groundwater governance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Groundwater governance: Addressing core concepts and challenges

Closas

Villholth

2019

WIREs Water

Self Cite

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With decreasing aquifer levels, increasing groundwater pollution, inequitable access, and generally poor management outcomes, better groundwater governance has been put forward as a recipe to address these challenges worldwide. Existing recommendations focus on improved legal frameworks, monitoring and control of access and abstraction through permits or formal rights. In addition, decentralized water management, enforcement of regulations, and supply‐side technological solutions are seen as cornerstone components of good groundwater governance systems. However, until now, these approaches have generally failed to reconcile the fundamental dynamics and properties of groundwater as a natural resource and of governance as a social and political phenomenon. This has caused a disregard for local to planetary boundaries, power dynamics, and intra‐ and intergenerational inequalities in access to benefits from groundwater. As the current general notion of good groundwater governance is limited, solutions put forward are also partial and do not encompass the wider challenges affecting groundwater governance, in effect replacing sustainable management goals and policy for governance as a process. This paper takes a particular look at the Middle East and North Africa and agricultural groundwater use for irrigation to constructively redefine groundwater governance and fully address the multilayered and multifaceted core challenges of groundwater governance. Equally, the paper puts forward a new conceptual thinking that will help support the effective development of governance‐based solutions to achieve sustainable, socially acceptable, resilient and equitable resource use. This article is categorized under: Engineering Water > Planning Water Human Water > Water Governance

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Groundwater governance: rationale, definition, current state and heuristic framework

Cited by 24 publications

References 1 publication

Global Groundwater Sustainability, Resources, and Systems in the Anthropocene

Global Groundwater Sustainability, Resources, and Systems in the Anthropocene

An Overview of Managed Aquifer Recharge in Mexico and Its Legal Framework

Groundwater governance: Addressing core concepts and challenges

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