Groundwater: A North American Resource
Discussion Paper
Joanna Kidd
January 01, 2002
- English
This document was developed by POWI for the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) to spur discussion and focus debate on groundwater in the North American context. The CEC had previously examined the legal and policy framework that underlies transboundary freshwater management in North America and had identified a number of emerging freshwater issues.
The CEC has chosen at this time to focus on groundwater because it is the least well understood component of North America's freshwater system. As described in this discussion paper, a number of agencies have called for governments to increase their understanding of the resource. Author, Joanna Kidd argues that we know very little about how much groundwater is available, how much is currently being consumed, how it flows underground, and other important facts. As a resource, groundwater has not been examined through a North American lens.
Groundwater is a vital (but under-appreciated) part of our freshwater system. Almost 200 million North American residents rely on groundwater for domestic use. It is also vital to the agricultural and industrial sectors of the North American economy and it plays an essential role in sustaining our rivers, streams, lakes, wetlands and aquatic systems. However, the resource is under threat: contamination of aquifers is pervasive in North America and in many places groundwater is being used faster than nature can replace it. Emerging factors such as the possibility of international trade of water, rapid population growth in water-stressed areas and global climate change will all increase the pressure on groundwater resources. Decades of effort have been expended in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico to protect and restore surface waters, but much less effort has been expended on groundwater. The results of this lack of institutional attention are now becoming apparent.
Many have argued that access to clean water will be the environmental issue of the 21st century. A recent study projects that, if current consumption patterns continue, at least 3.5 billion people or 48% of the world's population will live in water stressed basins by the year 2025 (World Resources Institute, 2000). This, and the other factors noted above suggest that the time to begin a North American dialogue on groundwater is now.