UNWATER TheUnitedNationsWorldWaterDevelopmentReport2022 GROUNDWATER Makingtheinvisiblevisible unesco LNECLA unescoUNESCA unesco UNSHARITAT TheUnitedNationsWorldWaterDevelopmentReport2022 GROUNDWATER Makingtheinvisiblevisible Publishedin2022bytheUnitedNationsEducational,ScientificandCulturalOrganization, 7,placedeFontenoy,75352Paris07SP;France UNESC02022 ThisreportispublishedbyUNESCOonbehalfofUN-Water.ThelistofUN-WaterMembersandPartnerscanbefound onthefollowingwebsite:www.unwater.org- ISBN978-92-3-100507-7 00 BYSA ThispublicationisavailableinOpenAccessundertheAttribution-ShareAlike3.0IGO(CC-BY-SA3.0IGO)license (creativecornmons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/igo/).Byusingthecontentofthispublication,theusersaccepttobe boundbythetermsofuseoftheUNESCOOpenAccessRepository(www.unesco.org/open-access/terms-use-ccbysa-en). Thepresentlicenseappliesexclusivelytothetextcontentofthepublication.Fortheuseofanymaterialnotclearly identifiedasbelongingtoUNESCO,priorpermissionshallberequestedfromthecopyrightowner. ofitsauthorities,orconcerningthedelimitationofitsfrontiersorboundaries.Similarly,boundariesandnamesshown andthedesignationusedonthemapsdonotimplyofficislendorsementoracceptancebytheUnitedNations. Theideasandopinionsexpressedinthispublicationarethoseoftheauthors;theyarenotnecessarilythoseof UNESCOanddonotcommittheOrganization.ThecontentswerecontributedbytheUN-WaterMembersand Partners,andotherslistedonthetitlepagesofthechapterstherein.UNESCOandtheUNESCOWorldwater AssessmentProgramme(wWAP)arenotresponsibleforerrorsinthecontentprovidedorfordiscrepanciesindata andcontentbetweencontributedchapters.wwAPprovidedtheopportunityforindividualstobelistedasauthorsand Chapter4andSection8.1containBritishGeologicalSurveymaterial@UKRI2022 Section8.2byAnnukkaLipponen,SonjaKoeppelandSarahTiefenauer-Linardon@2022UnitedNations. Chapter12byAnnukkaLipponen,SonjaKoeppelandSarahTiefenauer-Linardon@2022UnitedNations. Chapter13:FinancingforsustainabilitybyInternationalBankforReconstructionandDevelopment/TheWorldBank. Suggestedcitation: UnitedNations,TheUnitedNationsWorldWaterDevelopmentReport2022:Groundwater:Makingtheinvisiblevisible. UNESCO,Paris. CoverartworkbyDavideBonazzi GraphicdesignandlayoutbyMarcoTonsini. PrintedbyUNESCO,Paris. PrintedinFrance. Thispublicationisprintedon100%recycled,chlorine-freepaper Climateneutral Production ClndteParthwr.c0n/12055-2002-1001 SHORTSUMMARY Thevastpotentialofgroundwaterandtheneedto manageitsustainablycannolongerbeoverlooked Accountingforapproximately99%ofalliquidfreshwateronEarth,groundwaterhasthepotentialtoprovidesocietieswithtremendoussocial,economicandenvironmental benefitsandopportunities.Groundwateralreadyprovideshalfofthevolumeofwater withdrawnfordomesticusebytheglobalpopulation,includingthedrinkingwaterfor thevastmajorityoftheruralpopulationwhodo notgettheirwaterdeliveredtothemviapublic orprivatesupplysystems,andaround25%ofall waterwithdrawnforirrigation.However,thisnaturalGroundwater resourceisoftenpoorlyunderstood,andconsequentlyundervalued,mismanagedandevenabused. accountsforapproximately 99% Groundwateriscentraltothefightagainstpoverty, tofoodandwatersecurity,tothecreationofdecent jobs,tosocio-economicdevelopment,andtothe resilienceofsocietiesandeconomiestoclimate ofallliquidfreshwater change.Relianceongroundwaterwillonlyincrease,onEarth mainlyduetogrowingwaterdemandbyallsectors combinedwithincreasingvariationinrainfallpatterns. Thereportdescribesthechallengesandopportunitiesassociatedwiththedevelopment,managementandgovernanceofgroundwateracrosstheworld.taimstoestablisha clearunderstandingoftherolethatgroundwaterplaysindailylife,ofitsinteractionswith people,andoftheopportunitiesforoptimizingitsuseinordertoensurethelong-term sustainabilityofthislargelyavailableyetfragileresource. Unlockingthefullpotentialofgroundwaterwillrequirestrongandconcertedeffortsto manageanduseitsustainably.Anditallstartsbymakingtheinvisiblevisible. TIHIunescoUNWATER "Sincewarsbegininthemindsofmenand womenitisinthemindsofmenandwomen thatthedefencesofpeacemustbeconstructed" ForewordbyAudreyAzoulay,Director-GeneralofUNESCoVll ForewordbyGilbertF.Houngbo,ChairofUN-WaterandPresidentofIFAD Preface WWDR2022Team Acknowledgements Executivesummarn PrologueStateofgroundwaterresources Freshwatervolumes Freshwaterrenewal Freshwaterwithdrawal,waterstressandwaterscarcit Groundwaterwithdrawalanduse Chapter1Introduction 1.3Aquifers,theirmaincharacteristicsandthegroundwaterresourcestheycontain.. 1.4Briefhistoryofgroundwaterdevelopment.. 30 1.6Globalinterconnections 1.7Groundwaterinthecontextotalobalagendasandtrameworks 1.8Challengesrelatedtogroundwater34 .gOpportunitiesforenhancingbenetitsfromqroundwater 39 Chapter2 2.1Groundwatergovernanceandmanagement40 2.2Legalinstruments.42 2.3Institutionalaspects 4 Chapter3Groundwaterandagriculture 3.1Introduction48 3.2Groundwateruseintheaoriculturalsecto 3.slmpactsofagncultureongroundwaterguantity 3.4Agriculturallandswithshallowqroundwatertable 3.5lnpactsofagricultureongroundwaterquality 3.6Groundwat