WaterUnderground

WaterUnderground

Groundwater—the world’s largest freshwater store— is a life-sustaining resource that supplies water to billions of people, plays a central part in irrigated agriculture and influences the health of many ecosystems. Water Underground is a groundwater nerd blog written by a global collective of hydrogeologic researchers for water resource professionals, academics and anyone interested in groundwater, research, teaching and supervision. The blog, started by Tom Gleeson and managed by Xander Huggins, is the first blog hosted on both the EGU blogs and the AGU blogosphere.

Toasting the end of the year of groundwater with a Summit in Paris

Toasting the end of the year of groundwater with a Summit in Paris

By Tom Gleeson,  Jared van Rooyen and Viviana Re Here at Water Underground we’ve been loving the variety of online, hybrid and (yes, finally!) in person meetings since the World Water Day on March 22, which celebrated groundwater for the first time ever.  We are looking forward to the UN Water Summit on Groundwater on Dec 7 – 8 in Paris, France and online. UNESCO has developed this list of events ...[Read More]

Air quality in North India and links with groundwater management

Air quality in North India and links with groundwater management

by Swamini Khurana Air pollution in India, particularly in north India, is a long-standing problem (1,2) with reportedly 63% of Indians living in areas exceeding the WHO guidelines for PM2.5 levels of 40 µg/m3. This makes India one of the most polluted countries in the world (typically among the worst 5 countries over the past 4-5 years (3)), along with Pakistan and Bangladesh. In fact, this makes ...[Read More]

Groundwater: a sensitive but powerful tool

Groundwater: a sensitive but powerful tool

Guest contribution by Dr. Rosario Sanchez Flores, TAMU Yes, water is a delicate resource. You can barely hold it in your hand, but you can certainly feel it within your fingers; your skin; your nervous system. It has the power to change the energy of our body. It is as natural as magic. We convince ourselves that we control it, but it surprises us every time we think we understood it. It is not a ...[Read More]

Urban Groundwater II: Heading for the coast

Photo credit: Shutterstock.

by Margaret Shanafield (Flinders University), Ana Manero (Australian National University), Sally Thompson (University of Western Australia), and Greg Claydon Few urban home buyers are picking their dream home based on depth to groundwater. Yet that water level can play an important role in the quality of life in their new home. Typically, it is only after moving in that residents realise problems ...[Read More]

Why so salty? Coastal groundwater quality under threat

Why so salty? Coastal groundwater quality under threat

Guest contribution from Daniel Kretschmer, University of Potsdam European groundwater quality is deteriorated by seawater intrusion, the displacement of freshwater by a landward movement of seawater (Custodio, 2010). Just south of Barcelona, the deep confined aquifer at the Llobregat river delta has experienced SWI of several kilometers due to intensive groundwater abstraction in the 20th century ...[Read More]

Our enduring fascination with groundwater springs

Our enduring fascination with groundwater springs

by David Litwin, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Article: Springs regarded as hydraulic features and interpreted in the context of basin-scale groundwater flow Authors: Tóth, Á., Kovács, S., Kovács, J., & Mádl-Szőnyi, J. O Fount Bandusia, brighter than crystal, worthy of sweet wine and flowers, tomorrow shalt thou be honoured with a firstling ...[Read More]

The rise and fall of urban groundwater

The rise and fall of urban groundwater

Original Article by Andy Baker and Margaret Shanafield 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 h ...[Read More]

Visualizing the invisible through art

Visualizing the invisible through art

authored by Grant Ferguson Groundwater is often thought of as out of sight out of mind and has even been accused of being not photogenic. The typical visualization tools used by hydrogeologists include maps, cross-sections and graphs. These can be effective, especially amongst ourselves, but it is difficult to invoke the sort of emotional response that is typical from seeing other hydrologic featu ...[Read More]

Groundwater: depleting reserves must be protected around the world

Groundwater: depleting reserves must be protected around the world

Original Article post here on theconversation.com, authored by Richard Taylor and Mohammad Shamsudduha (‘Shams’) 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 no ...[Read More]

How to add environmental justice into your groundwater classes

How to add environmental justice into your groundwater classes

By Tom Gleeson, Chinchu Mohan, Summer Okibe, Noella Horoscoe, Xander Huggins, Crystal Ng and Ally Jacoby 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 jus ...[Read More]