Groundwater: Making Invisible Visible
World Water Day is celebrated on 22nd
of every March since 1993, which focuses on the importance of water present
anywhere on the planet. Celebrating this day make nearly 2.2 B aware about
water issues. This is all about taking action and accepting challenge to solve
global water issues. World Water Day
main focus is to support accomplishment of Sustainable Development Goal no 6:
Water and Sanitation for all by 2030.
This year the theme of World Water Day is “Groundwater,
making the invisible visible”. Let’s first discuss, what is groundwater. It is
the freshwater which is present underground in aquifers. Aquifers are the areas
or we can say water stored in geological formations. This water is not
stagnant, this water feeds lakes, springs rivers and wetlands. Groundwater is
mainly recharged by the rain, snow and hail infiltrating the ground and
recharging the aquifer. This water is then extracted with the wells and used in
our daily life.
This groundwater provides most of the
drinking water to the whole world, out of that water 40% water is used for
irrigation and 1/3 of water is used by industry. Groundwater sustains
ecosystems, maintains the rivers and prevents the land subsidence and seawater
intrusion. Almost all agriculture land depends upon on groundwater.
Life would not be possible without
groundwater. Most arid areas of the world depend entirely on groundwater.
Groundwater supplies a large proportion of the water we use for drinking,
sanitation, food production and industrial processes. We need to preserve and
protect the overuse and over extraction of the groundwater for our survival.
These days we also face the problem of contamination of water, which is mainly
due the overexploitation of geological resources and industrial activities. As
fertilizers are used in large amount which not only crops but also in process
on runoff deplete the quality of groundwater in the process of percolation.
The sustainable use of the
groundwater ultimately makes it sure that it will be available for everyone and
this will ultimately prevent climate change and meeting population needs.
In process of climate change
adaptation groundwater plays an important role and is considered as solution
for people to access water.
Anthropogenic activities including
population and economic growth and climate variability has increase the
pressure on consumption of groundwater use. Depletion and contamination of
groundwater is also being observed at various location of the world and a few
locations it is not consumable.
Keeping in view the problems
discussed, world water day on groundwater would put highlight the issue and
enhance the knowledge and further increased awareness among the people.
Sources:
https://www.un.org/en/observances/water-day
About the Author: Meraj Ahsan Qureshi is a young
motivated EHS official , dedicated to aware and create positive change in
society.
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