1 Warning: Air quality in North India may turn ‘severe’ by Diwali (downtoearth.org.in)

2 Combatting air pollution in Northern India: Cooperative federalism is the way forward | ORF (orfonline.org)

3  World's Most Polluted Countries in 2021 - PM2.5 Ranking | IQAir

4  Chapter 4.pmd (ncert.nic.in)

5  earth :: a global map of wind, weather, and ocean conditions (nullschool.net)

6  Green Revolution (drishtiias.com)

7 Kaur, Samanpreet & Aggarwal, Rajan & Soni, Ashwani. (2011). Study of water-table behaviour for the Indian Punjab using GIS. Water science and technology : a journal of the International Association on Water Pollution Research. 63. 1574-81. 10.2166/wst.2011.212. 

8 Punjab tops country in over-exploitation of groundwater : The Tribune India

9  Punjab and Haryana Groundwater Policy Choking Delhi-NCR (geospatialworld.net)

10  Punjab crosses the 10,000 mark of stubble burning by recording over 2,000 fires on Friday | Cities News,The Indian Express

Why is shallow groundwater a problem?

What’s different about Perth?

Looking to the Future

Cities are home to about half of the global population and urban population has doubled in the last 50 years from 1.5 billion people in 1975 to 3.5 billion people in 2015. This urban population will rise to a predicted 5 billion people by 2050. So, it’s probable that most of us will be reading this from a city. So, city dwellers, do you know how deep your groundwater level is? And is it rising or falling?

It is often written that groundwater is a hidden resource. But in urban areas, when there is a protracted fall in groundwater levels, subsidence may occur. A recent paper published in the journal Science mapped subsidence at a global scale and identified that the most common cause was excessive groundwater extraction. You can explore an interactive map here.

Many people don’t realise groundwater flooding can also occur. When groundwater rises close to the land surface, it could have unwanted consequences, including damage to infrastructure such as flooded basements and tunnels; loss of amenities, such as flooding of underground venues; and groundwater entering storm and waste water management systems.

So how and why do changes in groundwater level occur in urban areas?

In some cities, continued over-abstraction of groundwater can lead to a fall in groundwater levels. An often-cited example is that of Bangkok, where over-abstraction brought the groundwater level down to around 40 m below the surface, leading to subsidence and saltwater intrusion. This trend was successfully reversed by better regulatory management of the groundwater resource.

Alternatively, groundwater levels may progressively rise closer to the land surface over time. Typically, this is due to the cessation of over-abstraction, firstly as water-intensive manufacturing industries close or move away from an urban area, or secondly, if the urban groundwater resource becomes too contaminated to abstract. Here in Sydney, this has occurred in the Botany Sands Aquifer. Once the water supply for the city, industrial pollution has led to a restriction to licensed abstraction. Decreased abstraction has led to rises in groundwater level even in periods of long-term drought.

In some locations, where the groundwater level is naturally close to the surface and there is a strongly seasonal climate, a seasonal variation in groundwater level can be expected and planned for. An example here in Western Australia is that of the city of Perth, that has a seasonal Mediterranean climate type with wet winters and dry summers, and associated rises and falls in groundwater. Long term rises in groundwater are trickier to manage.

Another consideration for cities is climate change, and how that might affect both groundwater recharge and abstraction. For example, back in Western Australia, the Perth region has experienced a long-term decline in winter rainfall that has been attributed to global warming, and rainfall recharge of groundwater is decreasing. In contrast, over on the east of the continent, Sydney has experienced a run of wetter years, thanks to the rare occurrence of repeat La Niña and negative Indian Ocean Dipole phenomena that bring increased moisture to the region. Sydney has just experienced its wettest start to a year on record with 1531 mm of rainfall through to the end of May, and the Botany Sands Aquifer has been on the rise.

So, what’s happening below YOUR feet?

       The result was striking in many ways and communicates the story of groundwater with far more emotion than I have ever been able to with scientific papers, maps and graphs. Having an artist create something from how Dr. McIntosh and I envision groundwater systems was an incredible experience. I can’t help but wonder what other ideas on groundwater are waiting to be communicated this way and highly recommend that hydrogeologists collaborate with artists if the opportunity arises.

Though water is central to our everyday lives and indeed life itself, we often mark World Water Day on March 22 not by reminding ourselves of all that water brings, but of the consequences of its absence or contamination.

        As the American polymath Benjamin Franklin noted, “when the well runs dry, we (shall) know the worth of water”. This direct reference to groundwater, the water flowing through the pores and cracks in rocks beneath our feet, is fitting as the theme of this year’s water day is Groundwater: Making the Invisible, Visible.

Groundwater is our planet’s invaluable natural store of freshwater but it is woefully neglected. It differs from the water running off into rivers, lakes and wetlands as this underground flow derives from precipitation that occurred years, decades or even millennia ago. Much of the estimated 23  million km³ of groundwater in the upper 2 km of the Earth’s crust is ancient. Yet even the shallower and more easily accessible water, part which has been replenished by rain over the past half century, still greatly exceeds all other unfrozen water on Earth.

        Found throughout landscapes on all continents, groundwater plays a vital role in not only sustaining water-dependent ecosystems during period of low or absent rainfall, but also providing people with access to safe water, especially off-grid communities. In drylands that stretch across around 40% of the world, groundwater is often the only perennial source of freshwater. It is estimated that half of the world’s drinking water and a quarter of all the water used in irrigation are currently sourced by groundwater drawn from wells and springs.

        Groundwater flowing within rocks underground known as aquifers is generally more resilient to climate variability and change than surface waters. Therefore droughts – whose frequency and severity are amplified by global warming – often increase dependence upon groundwater. This was recently witnessed in Cape Town in South Africa, which narrowly avoided “day zero” when the municipal water supply would be turned off. It has even been argued that human evolution itself relied on continuous spring discharges during periods of extreme drought.

        The world is expected to become more dependent upon fresh water stored as groundwater as societies adapt to a world in which rain falls less frequently but in heavier bursts brought about by climate change. Recent evidence suggests such changes in rainfall may favour groundwater replenishment in the tropics to cope with drier periods, and that irrigation with groundwater could address climate change threats to rain-fed agriculture.

Exploited and contaminated

        Despite groundwater’s invaluable attributes, it is not immune to overexploitation or contamination. For instance, continued groundwater pumping in some of the world’s most productive food-growing regions – California’s Central Valley, the North China Plain, northwest India, the High Plains of the US – is rapidly depleting reserves.

        Similarly, some of the world’s fastest growing cities such as Dhaka (Bangladesh) and Nairobi (Kenya) are struggling to reliably provide safe water as the groundwater below is running out. Groundwater depletion in both contexts disproportionately affects lower-income households and farmers who are typically less able to engage in a “race to the bottom” and drill deeper wells.

        Groundwater in coastal areas is also becoming more salty, thanks to intensive pumping and rising sea levels, which both serve to drive sea water into underground aquifers. This salinisation especially affects groundwater in low-lying nations across the world and has the potential to force millions of people to leave their homes.

       Use of groundwater is also impaired by the natural leaching of pollutants such as fluoride and arsenic from their host rocks – arsenic leaking into wells in Bangladesh has been described as the largest mass poisoning in history. Human activity, be it indiscriminate use of pesticides and fertilisers in agriculture, inadequate sanitation infrastructure, or ineffective regulation of industrial practices, also threatens the sustainability of groundwater use.

A common resource

        As groundwater is out of sight, it has long been out of mind. Many countries struggle to monitor and evaluate their supplies, and only invest a tiny fraction of the resources they allocate to tracking surface water. There has also been a lack of investment in training and education in groundwater science, known as hydrogeology.

        Like fisheries, groundwater is a commons, which is constantly threatened by The Tragedy of the Commons – a situation where individual users act in their own self-interest to deplete or degrade a resource, contrary to the collective good. The Nobel-Prize winning economist Elinor Ostrom showed that cooperation is possible, however. She identified a set of conditions from case studies that included shared use of groundwater in which a community of users regulates individual access to develop common-pool resources prudently and sustainably. If we are to make groundwater visible, and ensure it provides equitable and climate-resilient access to water throughout the world, then such cooperative approaches are urgently required.

Along with the Water Underground Talks (webpage, youtube, blog post) that bring passionate and diverse voices and perspectives into groundwater classrooms, we have also been developing new materials to add environmental justice into your groundwater classes. The US EPA defines environmental justice as the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.

        A diverse and committed constellation of people (who are co-authors on this post) have contributed to this work which has been shaped by expert advisors. Here we describe the process and materials, and share reflections from some of the contributors. These materials and more are free to download on Hydroshare.

Process:

        With funding from the Anti-racism Initiative at University of Victoria, we hired two research assistants as preferential hires for BIPOC students and assembled our team from University of Victoria and University of Minnesota that would meet weekly. We first started with a multi-week co-learning exercise where we discussed groundwater hydrology, Indigenous theory, environmental justice etc. to create a common language and understanding. Then we conducted a multi-week horizon scan of case studies and previous teaching materials on groundwater-related environmental racism and injustice. We summarized information from ten case studies on a common template. Then we were ready to design the teaching materials described below which was then reviewed and improved by a series of expert advisors Ryan Emanuel, Ingrid Waldron, Deb Perrone, Pamela Wolf and Gilles Wendling as well as collaborators Heather Buckley, Kristian Dubrawski and Crystal Tremblay.

• A slide deck on ‘Environmental Justice Fundamentals’ for groundwater hydrologists that is meant to be one module (~3 hours of class time) near the beginning of the term to be a foundation for future modules and assignments. It is freely available and will help you:
  • Start with acknowledging team that developed and advised on slides, and your positionality and approach from your social location
  • Introduce environmental racism and injustice as a hook; and clarify argument why this is important for engineers (or geoscientists or whomever you teach)
  • Define and discuss environmental racism manifestations and causes
  • Describe Indigenous aspects of environmental racism (for context and background for methodologies described below)
  • Discuss data of groundwater-related environmental injustice around the world (to put issues in broad context) and few examples from around the world (you could substitute others from end of slide deck)
  • Define and discuss environmental justice and toolbox
  • Describe different tools in toolbox (emphasizing what is important for your students)
  • Additional slides with other case studies and than additional resources for students to continue their learning
• Additional slide decks that mention or integrate environmental justice into modules on aquifers, groundwater modeling, groundwater flow to wells, groundwater-surface water interactions and groundwater resources and global change. Each of these modules have class activities as breakout sessions that can be modified for online or in person teaching.
• Series of assignments that are place-based in British Columbia or Minnesota as is appropriate for the topic but these can be exemplars for other instructors.

These materials and more can openly downloaded by anyone from Hydroshare: Gleeson, T. (2022). Groundwater Hydrology/Hydrogeology Teaching Materials (full course), HydroShare, http://www.hydroshare.org/resource/327fae4ec11e4232b93a3c737bc05f7c

Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is the coordinated management of natural resources including both water and land. IWRM informs a sustainable path to development without leaving a holistic view of ecosystems out of the context. Thus, it brings together professionals from a wide variety of professional backgrounds to ensure this holistic development and management of water resources.

        Shining a spotlight on best practices for water resource management enables practitioners worldwide to be exposed to diverse value systems and approaches to generate innovative solutions for IWRM (1). However, over the past 2-3 decades, IWRM has primarily focused on surface water resources, with only a few case studies exploring the sustainable use of groundwater resources. Sustainability here means both volume or rate of abstraction of groundwater as well as the quality of groundwater. Neglecting groundwater from the IWRM framework is highly inadvisable since groundwater is the largest source of available freshwater on Earth (2). It is extensively used by a wide variety of sectors, from agriculture to municipal and industry. Being a “hidden” resource, monitoring of groundwater quality and quantity has been somewhat challenging. Thus, while it should clearly be holding center stage in IWRM conversations, it is often ignored.

        To bring the focus back to groundwater, we envision a new series of articles collecting good practices on groundwater management from diverse regions and communities to add to the seed bank of “Good Anthropocene”. We aim to raise awareness about relevant initiatives and organizations involved, to which readers can reach out to if they are interested in building capacity to address similar concerns in their focus area/region. We welcome contributions from our readers if they are aware of any initiative which fits with this topic. Contributions may be in any form, ranging from raising awareness among the editorial team about a success story through a reference to an independent article contribution. If you would like to share a story, please email swamini.khurana@natgeo.su.se and waterundergroundblog@gmail.com. The IGRAC also has an ongoing challenge to make the invisible groundwater visible! The deadline for submissions is 20 November 2022, so go ahead and share how groundwater touches you in your daily life!

        Since groundwater monitoring has been challenging, groundwater resources are over-exploited globally. The limitless abstraction of groundwater has resulted in lowering water table in numerous aquifers (3). Historically, industrial establishments have also chosen to pump their hazardous waste into the ground, rather than treat it appropriately prior to safe disposal. This has resulted in contamination of large aquifers, with groundwater use affected for several miles downgradient from the source of the contamination. Similarly, solid hazardous waste stored without protection on the ground also leaches into the groundwater, subsequently contaminating the entire aquifer. Lastly, excessive fertilization of agricultural land over the last few decades has led to a continental scale nitrate problem in Europe, among many other regions in the world. Eventually, this poor-quality groundwater reaches surface water bodies in the form of Base flow, resulting in further spread of contamination. Alternatively, over-abstracted groundwater fails to reach the receiving surface water body, resulting in drying and dying streams. Thus, it is clear that no IWRM plan can be drawn without taking into consideration the aquifer in that basin.

       Few areas/case studies exist describing the incorporation of groundwater resource management in IWRM. Some exist, including Guarini shared between several countries in South America, Southwest Florida, Northern China Plain, and European countries such as Poland and Spain, which display the successful transboundary collaboration to address overexploitation of large aquifers at both the national and the international levels. Check out the Global Water Partnership as a starter resource.

       Through this new series of articles, we would like to bring into focus the case studies where groundwater resources were carefully considered in the overall management plan along with surface water resources.

(1) Bennett, E. M., Solan, M., Biggs, R., McPhearson, T., Norström, A. V., Olsson, P., Pereira, L., Peterson, G. D., Raudsepp-Hearne, C., Biermann, F., Carpenter, S. R., Ellis, E. C., Hichert, T., Galaz, V., Lahsen, M., Milkoreit, M., López, B. M., Nicholas, K. A., Preiser, R., … Xu, J. (2016). Bright spots: Seeds of a good Anthropocene. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 14(8), 441–448. JSTOR Journals. (2) Gleick, P. H., 1996: Water resources. In Encyclopedia of Climate and Weather, ed. by S. H. Schneider, Oxford University Press, New York, vol. 2, pp.817-823. (3) Huang, Y., Salama, M. S., Krol, M. S., Su, Z., Hoekstra, A. Y., Zeng, Y., and Zhou, Y., 2015:: Estimation of human-induced changes in terrestrial water storage through integration of GRACE satellite detection and hydrological modeling: A case study of the Yangtze River basin, Water Resources Research, 51, pp. 8494-8516, doi: 10.1002/2015WR016923.

Groundwater is often invisible because it’s hidden below the ground. However, for those who know what to look for, you can see evidence for groundwater everywhere you look! A couple of years ago, I wrote about the great American groundwater road trip across the Ogallala Aquifer where we could see groundwater in the form of irrigation, streamflow, and town names. In honor of the United Nation’s “Groundwater: Making the Invisible Visible” campaign, and the fact that riding bikes is much more fun than driving in cars, this year I wanted to showcase some visible evidence of groundwater around my home in Lawrence KS that I bike by on a ~20 mile loop north of town.

        You can ride it either way, but I always like to go clockwise since there are lots of options to cut short or extend the end based on how much time you have and how your legs are feeling!

        It doesn’t look like much, but this little groundwater monitoring well (and a second well nearby that it replaced) have been collecting data for almost 70 years, providing a valuable long-term dataset to understand how groundwater has changed in the Kansas River. The well is part of the Kansas Geological Survey’s Kansas River Index Well Network that provides continuous, telemetered monitoring of groundwater resources along the Kansas River corridor. You can view the current data here!

        Rural Water District No. 13 provides water to over 1000 Kansans who live in rural parts of Jefferson, Douglas, and Leavenworth counties. The water comes from the Kansas River alluvial aquifer (more on that later). While I don’t know much about this particular water tower, I am always happy to see it because it is at the top of the hill so it means that my legs are about to get a rest!

        The Kansas Geological Survey’s GEMS research wellfield is part of the Kansas University Field Station. It has been used for many projects over the years, particularly for developing and testing methods for aquifer characterization. Currently, GEMS is home to a telemetered groundwater monitoring well from the same index well network mentioned at Stop 1, so I can check groundwater levels from the comfort of my own home.

        While I couldn’t get a picture of irrigation happening currently (since it is still winter here), as you roll back towards the river from the GEMs site you enter the fertile Kansas River floodplain, which includes many irrigated fields. The Kansas River alluvial aquifer is a major source of irrigation water in northeastern Kansas. That is why we need the index well monitoring program that we saw at stops 1 and 3 on our tour.

       Folks who live in northern parts of the city of Lawrence, like me, get their water from a mixture of Kansas River water and the alluvial aquifer (the southern part of town gets their water from Clinton Lake reservoir). This big silver thumbtack-type thing is one of the wells drawing water from the alluvial aquifer. (Here’s a fun scavenger hunt: the city’s wellfield at Burcham Park includes six wells, can you find them all?) As a side note, the building behind this well is the Kansas University crew team’s boathouse, which supports some of the streamflow monitoring on the Kansas River since they need that information for safe boating. Thanks, KU crew!

       The water pumped from the wellfield and the river doesn’t have far to go – the Kaw River Water Treatment Plant is right across the street and has been in operation for over 100 years. From the treatment plant, the water is distributed throughout the city, and after I see this spot, I know it’s time for me to head home too.

      I’ve got groundwater on the brain, and can’t even take a relaxing bike ride without seeing evidence for groundwater all around town. What are some of your favorite groundwater features you bike, walk, ski, roll, or otherwise see on foot? Share in the comments or let’s start a twitter thread!

At the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in December 2021, the AGU Hydrology Section Student Subcommittee (H3S) convened a townhall “Coming Together After Being Apart…” where the AGU Hydrology Section leadership were available for questions from the community, updates on current activities, and plans for future section initiatives. The conversation seemed important to share with hydrologists who might be interested in or affected by Section initiatives. Here I’ll summarize what was discussed and provide my perspective as an early career hydrologist.

        The panelists for the townhall were Drs. Scott Tyler, Ana Barros, and John Selker, the past, present, and future presidents of the Hydrology Section respectively, Dr. Shirley Papuga, the section secretary, Dr. Thushara Gunda, a representative to the AGU Hydrology JEDI (justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion) committee, and Dan Myers, H3S chair-elect. Discussion focused primarily on section-level JEDI activities and progress and section awards, including the outstanding student presentation awards (OSPA).

        The 2020 white paper published by H3S proposed forming a Hydrology Section JEDI standing committee, which met for the first time in fall 2021. The committee has 15 members from various career stages, and is currently chaired by Dr. Caitlyn Hall. In Fall 2021, the committee’s activities focused primarily on Fall Meeting, and discussion of how the committee will take feedback and communicate with section members. Currently suggested avenues include updates in the section newsletter, and a designated page on the AGU website where they will be able to take comments and suggestions. There was also a question about how the section will fund JEDI-related activities. The general consensus among the presidents (past, present, and future) was that funding is available, and the current need is for good ideas and initiatives to take on, including suggestions from community members (see links in the last paragraph). In the discussion of JEDI initiatives, some panelists emphasized the importance of education and exposure to Earth science and hydrology amongst students before college or even before high school. It was unclear exactly what section activities could address this. To me, it seemed this discussion lacked acknowledgement that getting students exposed is only half the challenge; retention and support of minoritized scientists and women in geoscience is often the limiting factor in diversity at the graduate or faculty level.

        Section leadership were eager to discuss progress that was made by a recently created awards task force. Due to increasing competition for mid-career awards, the task force recommended the creation of the new Polubarinova-Kochina Hydrologic Sciences Mid-Career Award, after the Russian mathematician and groundwater scientist Pelageya Polubarinova-Kochina (1899-1999). This will be the section’s first award named after a woman. Also discussed were plans for additional awards for educational excellence and an award that could be given to teams of researchers.

        One question from section members was how the section is addressing calls to diversify award recipients, in light of the Cryosphere Section’s decision not to send nominees to the AGU Fellows Committee. Leadership discussed recent work to reach out more broadly to identify scientists who would like to be nominated. For those who desire nomination, the section will then help find someone to nominate you. (Not sure where to start with nomination? Check out these tips!) Another question addressed the possibility of student and early-career involvement in the process of selecting award recipients. While there was some general discussion about removing the hierarchy of awards, in which one would need to attain one prize before being selected for (or involved in the selection of) the next, the current president was clear that awards should be given by people with experience, and that this would also avoid putting early career scientists in difficult positions with respect to senior scientists.

        Lastly, there was a discussion of the OSPA. These awards give all participating students at the Fall Meeting an opportunity for feedback on their presentations, and enter them into the competition for recognition. This year the section decided to cancel the OSPA competition, while still allowing those judged to receive feedback. The decision was made after it became clear that there were not enough judges to make the competition fair—only 30% of participants received at least one judge. While some audience members felt that canceling the competition was unfair to students, leadership reasonably came to the conclusion that it was more unfair to many who wanted to participate in OSPA that the winner would be selected from the small pool of whomever happened to be judged. The state of OSPA seemed frustrating to many people – students and early career scientists attending the townhall emphasized the need for senior scientists to step up and be involved. While leadership acknowledged this, they also put some of the blame on AGU for creating a fundamentally unusable OSPA online interface. By the end of the discussion, the future of OSPA remained uncertain. All options seemed open, including a complete change in format for how the section recognizes excellent student research.

        I’m a PhD candidate, and therefore still relatively new to the AGU community. From the discussion I learned a little more about how much of the section’s efforts are spent on awards and recognition, from section awards, to AGU fellowship, to OSPA. President-elect John Selker noted the same thing in a recent post on the AGU Connects discussion board: “we must acknowledge that we spend over half of our organizational energy in the process of assigning awards. I liken this to a cat following the spot of light from a laser: this is certainly not our primary mission (the mice -e.g. climate change- are on the loose), but the light dances on our egos and careers, affixing our attention.” At the same time, the student subcommittee, H3S, expends most of its efforts on providing resources for students and early career members of the section through blog posts, seminars, panel discussions, townhalls, and more. I wonder whether there is some further mission missing from the section’s goals at large. Are there initiatives that scientists beyond early career would like to see our societies take on, or resources they would like to see created? Or are awards expected to be the central activity? Perhaps the JEDI committee is the most recent demonstration that there is interest and desire for activities beyond awards. Where do you think the section's future priorities should lie? If you have ideas, you don’t have to wait for this townhall to take place next year. Please share them with H3S, section leadership, or on the community discussion board.

• Questions for discussion (the unanswered questions posed by the presenter)
• One article the presenter finds very inspiring
• Articles mentioned in the presentation (usually a paper by the presenter or colleagues)

• Who are we?
• What do we do?
• Why do we do it? and
• Who do we do it for?

• Do you find this purpose personally inspiring?
• Can you envision this purpose being as valid 100 years from now as it is today?
• Does the purpose help you think expansively about the long-term possibilities and range of activities the organization can consider over the next 100 years, beyond current research and impact?
• Does this purpose help you to decide what activities to not pursue, to eliminate from consideration?
• Is this purpose authentic – something true to what the organization is all about – not merely words on paper that “sound nice”?
• Would this purpose be greeted with enthusiasm rather than cynicism by a broad base of people in the organization?
• When telling your children and/or other loved ones what you do for a living, would you feel proud in describing your work in terms of this purpose?

“The world has used me so unkindly, I fear it has made me suspicious of everyone”

“I have frequently been questioned, especially by women, of how I could reconcile family life with a scientific career. Well, it has not been easy.”

“I was so busy making maps I let them argue. I figured I would show them a picture of where the rift valley was and where it pulled apart. There’s truth to the old cliché that a picture is worth a thousand words and that seeing is believing”.

It has been a challenging year of a pandemic, economic collapse and an ever-increasing awareness of racism, all set against a backdrop of other global challenges including climate change and food security. We believe it is important to link groundwater with these challenges and to stay positive using our science and work as scientists to contribute to a better future.

We are recording a series of "Water Underground Talks" of groundwater experts from around the world to share their passions and their latest research. We aim for a critical yet positive and forward-looking perspective. In these videos, we promise that you will learn about passionate researchers from around the world, and their latest research on the connections between groundwater, climate, food and people. We also promise to elevate diverse voices and perspectives by focusing this series on scientists who identify as women and Black, Indigenous and People of Colour. We are partnering with various organizations including IGRAC, UNESCO, IAH, GRIPP and GIWS to help raise the profile of this initiative and distribute the videos.

For instructors: Starting in January, we’re planning to release about ten videos throughout 2021 that can each be used as a weekly exercise for any undergraduate or graduate class on hydrogeology or groundwater hydrology. Each video will combine a brief interview about each scientists’ motivation, personality and impact with a short research talk with unanswered questions that can spur follow-up discussions in class. We hope that many people around the world will integrate these great new resources into their classrooms.

The people and topics that will be highlighted in these videos include:

• Şebnem Arslan, Ankara University, Turkey on tracing the exciting underground journey of water molecules with isotopes (YouTube)
• Alice Aureli, UNESCO, Paris, France on transboundary aquifers and the new initiatives to raise the profile of groundwater internationally
• Juan Castilla-Rho, University of Technology Sydney, Australia on participatory modelling, social simulation and decision making for groundwater resource management
• Joanna Doummar, American University of Beirut, Lebanon on characterization of karst systems in semi-arid Mediterranean regions: from monitoring to modelling (YouTube)
• Inge de Graaf, Wageningen University, the Netherlands on the environmental limit of groundwater pumping
• Dongmei Han, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, on how over-exploitation of groundwater has resulted in seawater intrusion and land subsidence in the North China Plain
• Daniel Olago, University of Nairobi, Kenya on addressing challenges in sourcing for, development and management of groundwater supplies in arid and semi-arid lands
• Debra Perrone, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA on leveraging hidden data to promote our understanding of groundwater sustainability (YouTube)
• Veena Srinivasan, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, India will discuss data innovation and visualization of an invisible, common pool resource (YouTube)
• Rim Trabelsi, Laboratory of Radio-Analysis and Environment, Tunisia who will discuss the groundwater-energy-food nexus approach
• Karen Villholth, International Water Management Institute, South Africa will discuss groundwater, sustainable dev and nature-based solutions

• A new Educational Resources collection on CUAHSI HydroShare includes several in-class activities and at least four complete courses, all available free for use by the community.  [caption id="attachment_3173" align="alignright" width="300"] CUAHSI HydroShare landing page.[/caption]
• The HydroLearn platform which has complete courses and modules that you can use or adapt to your own setting.
• Hydrology Guest Lecture Database which is a  list of potential guest lectures on diverse topics.
• AGU Hydrology Section Student Subcommittee blog post on Teaching Resources for Students and Instructors.
• Young Hydrologic Society online teaching resources.

• get course content from diverse sources, voices, and perspectives (middle column in the red box is offered as alternative content for each course module - see the blue box for an example); and
• relate course content to their lives (the right column in the red box is incorporated into optional discussion boards for each course module - see the yellow box for an example). The discussion boards of interactive content have been very popular with students and are incentivized with bonus marks.

I firmly believe that a scientific approach is appropriate for any problem, scientific or not.

Geohealth

Indigenous knowledge

Earth Science & Finance

Sustainability

Education and communication

Water management

Geoengineering

Climate Change Adaptation

Disaster Risk Reduction

More

External Opportunities

Tell us about you and your work and interests.

Each geographical region considers different raw materials to be critical

Tailings can present environmental risks requiring ongoing management, but [...] they could also be potential resources

The coronavirus outbreak is a global shock that has affected labour supply, productivity and aggregate demand around the world. However, less is known about what impact this shock will have on global water resources.

        Disruptions of global food systems caused by the Covid-19 pandemic are, at least for now, more linked with the supply chain than with food production or food stocks. Indeed, early on in the crisis, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and other international agriculture organizations reminded us that current staple food reserves remain high.

        Yet, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), among others, has identified the risk of a spike in global food prices if countries opt to close their borders to trade of agri-food products. Such protectionist measures could be driven by the decline in air and ship cargo activities and by fear of SARS-CoV-2 contamination of food products. You can see how food prices have fluctuated since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic using IFPRI’s Food Security Portal here. While Covid-19-related price increases have been linked to food insecurity, the water resource consequences remain unaddressed.

        A second, major disrupting factor to global food systems is the reduced ability to work for billions of people due to lockdown measures implemented to slow the pandemic’s spread. This drastic reduction in activity and movement of people (lockdowns have been implemented on all continents) affects agricultural production because key workers, including trans-boundary workers, are not able to carry out harvests. As agriculture is, by far, the dominant water-consuming sector, disruption to agricultural production will certainly impact water resources. For instance, the decline in agricultural workforce could affect irrigation use as fewer people and fewer financial resources are available to develop, operate, maintain or repair irrigation systems. However, this discussion remains speculative in the absence of studies on the evolving matter.

        The discussed food system disruptions affect food growers, both large and small, and suppliers alike. The FAO assessed that “transport restrictions and quarantine measures are likely to impede farmers’ and fishers’ access to markets, curbing their productive capacities and hindering them from selling their [products]”, while highlighting that “aquatic products, which are highly perishable and therefore need to be sold, processed or stored in a relatively limited time are at particular risk.” Indeed, the contents of our plates are changing. Driven by supply disruptions, the fear of food shortages and sometimes lower-income consumers have bought less perishable (fresh) food, such as vegetables, fruits, and animal-sourced foods since the pandemic started.

        Depending on how long the pandemic lasts, the consequences for agricultural production and water use could prove to be significant. If these food demand changes persist, the production of vegetables, fruits and animal-sourced foods could decline, which (while having negative dietary implications) could reduce water demand and consumption as these products are more water-intensive than staple crops (e.g. see Dalin et al. 2017).

        Similarly to how lockdown-induced reductions in automobile traffic has decreased air pollution levels (link, link), it is possible that Covid-19 disruptions to the food system may lead to reduced irrigation use and its associated groundwater depletion. This irrigation decline might occur due to the general slowing of food production activities, but also due to shifts in demand. As mentioned above, the declining demand in fruits and vegetables, which are generally more groundwater-intensive than grains may reduce groundwater consumption and depletion as demands shift to less water-intensive staple crops like cereals. However, other staples such as rice or sugarcane are also water-intensive and their increased demand may have a counter-balancing effect on water demand.

        One cannot predict, for now, what the overall impact the coronavirus pandemic will have on water resources through its food system disruptions. Largely, the outcome will depend on the duration of the pandemic and its legacy effects on food demand. In countries where lockdown measures have been lifted or eased, food demands have largely returned to pre-pandemic levels. As worldwide coronavirus cases increase beyond 11 million and with daily new cases not far from all-time highs, we are certainly far from realizing the full extent of Covid-19. Will a potential second-wave of infections impact food systems like the first wave did? Will some countries push for increased domestic production to avoid relying on imports, intensifying their water use in the process? Will any of these implications have long-lasting water resource impacts, or will all responses be short-lived? As the saying goes, only time will tell.