ICID ANNUAL REPORT • 2010-11 outcome of the 24th european Regional Conference
24th european Regional Conference of ICID was held during March at orléans, France. the theme of the conference was ‘Groundwater Management’ and gathered 300 participants from 20 countries. More than 100 papers were presented and discussed in two plenary sessions and six parallel topics. Sami Bouarfa, president of the technical Committee of AFeID provides summary and key highlights of the event
Of the 300 million ha of irrigated land in the world, some 113 million ha presently depend on groundwater accounting some 25% of the total irrigation water withdrawals. The overall groundwater extraction has gone up from 100 million km3 in 1950 to about 1000 km3 in 2000. Of which 70-75% extraction goes for agriculture. It is estimated that groundwater-based systems generate $210–230 billion of revenue and are economically and socially more efficient than surface water systems. The low costs of installing and operating tube wells along with the resulting groundwater revolution have been the main reasons for this rapid growth. Groundwater irrigation covers the major irrigated area in France; half of the irrigated areas in South-Asia and is crucial in North-Africa. But, unlike surface water, groundwater is not easily measurable and manageable. In most cases it is used by a large number of independent users, including farmers, who have direct access to water. The same goes for diffuse pollutions. The complexity of aquifers functioning on large time and space scales hampers collective action as well as the perception of the impacts on the environment.
Despite these challenges, ICID so far has not focused enough on issues related to groundwater. The Conference hosted by AFEID is therefore of significance. The Beauce region is an important region for grain production in France. Here farmers have tested an innovative volumetric management system to manage the groundwater. A return from experience by stakeholders and users of the Beauce groundwater was presented and discussed.
President Madramootoo in his keynote address spoke on global trends in the usage of the groundwater reserves and resulting pressures from overexploitation. Dr Margat, a world-renowned hydrogeologist presented key data on the usage of the groundwater for irrigation, noting its rapid development during the past 50 years and the difficulties in managing a collective resource for which thousands of individuals have liberal access. Pr Ghislain de Marsily, an eminent hydrologist and member of the French Academy of Science, presented a case study on aquifer management in the French region of Marais-Poitevin which calls into question the necessity for extensive knowledge of water resources for its management.
Dr. Marcel Kuper, on behalf of Dr. T Shah,senior fellow at IWMI described how communities in India have responded to aquifer development and overexploitation, noting two distinct responses based on the abundance and accessibility of water resources. Pr B Barraqué, political scientist and economist with the
French Centre International de Recherches sur l’Environnement et 54
le Développement, described the evolution of water management in Europe, as the status of groundwater resources move from a thing that is privately owned to a common resource under Public Trust.
Key Issues •
Irrigation withdrawals are causing the imbalance of groundwater in the Mediterranean region. The groundwater quality has deteriorated due to very high nitrate concentrations (sometimes higher than 400 mg/l).
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While conjunctive use of groundwater in irrigated schemes is desirable, it can also be the source of new inequities between those who can invest in a borehole and other farmers. It would therefore be important to know if a collective appropriation of groundwater and its management is appropriate through allowance policy, collective drillings.
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There are a few cases of successful groundwater management implementation and also a few cases of uncontrolled “tragedies of the commons.’
The Water Framework Directive 2000/ 60/CE (WFD) requires Member States to protect, enhance and restore waters with the ultimate objective of achieving “good status” for both surface and groundwater bodies. While “good quantitative status” is clearly defined in the WFD, this is not the case for the complex “good chemical status.” So the lessons learned in the last 10 years were presented.
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Economic approaches of groundwater management discussed were (i) dynamics of, economic activities and groundwater resources, (ii) assessing and comparing the economic cost and/ or benefits of different groundwater management options, and (iii) designing and testing groundwater regulation instruments such as prices, (abstraction/ pollution) charges or taxes and markets of water rights.
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Groundwater pollution is not only the responsibility of agriculture with a highly variable ratio between agricultural/ non-agricultural pollution sources, but also other users. It is thus necessary to involve all the parties to find solutions at the local scale. The types of action (preventive like local arrangements between water suppliers and groups of farmers or curative like water treatment or alternative resource) should be analysed in context to technical and economic criteria.
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