WaterUnderground

Cultural Impacts

Air quality in North India and links with groundwater management

29th November 2022
Air quality in North India and links with groundwater management
Caption: Haze and mist affecting visibility, Delhi, October 2022. Photo credits: Swamini Khurana.

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

8th November 2022
Groundwater: a sensitive but powerful tool
Caption: Source: medium.com

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

28th September 2022
Photo credit: Shutterstock.
Figure 1: Perth is expanding along the coast into areas with shallow groundwater.

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]

Visualizing the invisible through art

2nd June 2022
Visualizing the invisible through art
“Precious Freshwater” from “Deep Time” by Louise Arnal with Grant Ferguson and Jennifer C. McIntosh

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]

How to add environmental justice into your groundwater classes

16th May 2022
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]

Call for nominations for Water Underground Talks Season 2

16th November 2021
Groundwater marquee for Water Underground Talks

Water Underground Talks elevates diverse voices, perspectives and groundwater research. In Season 1, eleven hydrogeologists from around the world shared their passions and exciting research on the connections between groundwater, climate, food and people. Season 2 will build on the success of Season 1 by releasing ~10 more videos that further elevate diverse voices, perspectives and groundwater re ...[Read More]

Should the pandemic change what we ‘do’ as sustainability scientists?

18th May 2020
Should the pandemic change what we ‘do’ as sustainability scientists?
Reflections and Ripples by David Hawkins-Weeks (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

By: Viviana Re and Tom Gleeson he world will likely never be the same again after the covid-19 pandemic – too much has changed for us personally, socially and culturally. The pandemic is a terrible tragedy that continues to devastate lives and economies while ironically also bearing the possibility of being a much needed global sustainability reset. So as applied scientists focused on sustai ...[Read More]

underground social solidarity: our #PandemicPlaylist

13th April 2020
underground social solidarity: our #PandemicPlaylist
Social solidarity participators (and musical groundwater nerds).

In our last post, the WaterUnderground community shared our roses, buds, and thorns of our current situations amid the coronavirus pandemic and a picture of our #StayAtHomeAndStaySafe view. As promised, in this post we’re sharing the next installment of this solidarity-building exercise of ours: our ‘pandemic playlist’. Each of the contributors from last post have provided a song ...[Read More]

underground social solidarity: rose, thorns and buds in the COVID-19 pandemic

31st March 2020
underground social solidarity: rose, thorns and buds in the COVID-19 pandemic

Well, the world is certainly in a crazy time – one of the most enlightening tweets that I keep thinking about is: In a longer article, Klein asks a crucial question: can social solidarity replicate faster than the virus? So to encourage social solidarity in our dispersed global community of groundwater nerds, I suggested we share: A picture of our #StayAtHomeAndStaySafeView A song that is wo ...[Read More]

Groundwater pumping poses worldwide threat to riverine ecosystems

3rd October 2019
Groundwater pumping poses worldwide threat to riverine ecosystems
When will critical river flows be reached where you live?

Post by Inge de Graaf, Assistant Professor of Hydrological Environmental Systems at the University of Freiburg. With the climate strikes happening all over the world, I sometimes wish I had a crystal ball that would allow me to look into the future. Or even better, a crystal ball that could show me different scenarios of what will happen if we change, or not. Well, I do not have a crystal ball, bu ...[Read More]