Groundwater resources sustainability indicators

Development of groundwater indicators has been taken up by UNESCO under the Sixth Phase of the International Hydrological Programme (IHP), Theme 2: Integrated Watershed and Aquifer Dynamics. This effort also draws in the expertise and support of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH). These organizations together also draw in support of a group of select professionals and have formed a groundwater indicators working group (WG) composed of UNESCO, IAEA and IAH experts. The WG has thoroughly reviewed the issues raised in the first World Water development Report (WWDR) and, at the outset, maintained the need for taking a longerterm horizon for groundwater indicator development. The indicators proposed in this report, although simple, are both scientifically-based and policy-relevant. As agreed during the UN system-wide meetings on indicator development at FAO-Rome (2002) and UNESCO-Paris (2004) and groundwater indicator WG meetings at Paris-UNESCO (2002), Vienna-IAEA (2003), Paris-UNESCO (2004) and Utrecht-IGRAC (2004), a balanced scientific and policy-based approach has been employed in deriving groundwater indicators. The set of groundwater indicators presented in this report is a short-list derived from over one hundred conceptual water related indicators. These have been short-listed based on some of the problems and caveats as noted above. It is expected that the third edition of the WWDR will fully utilize the set of groundwater indicators for comparing and contrasting the groundwater situation around the world.