UN Water Summit on Ground Water 2022 Paris

United Nation Water Summit on Ground Water was organised by UN-Water, United Nation Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and International Groundwater Resource Research Centre (IGRAC). UN Water Summit on Ground Water 2022 Paris to bring out the attention of international community at highly valuable resource groundwater.

• The Water Summit will also mark the completion of “Groundwater : Making the invisible visible” campaign run by UN-Water throughout 2022.
• The summit uses the UN Water Development Report 2022 as a baseline and SDG 6 Global Assessment Framework (GAF) to define actions towards more responsible and sustainable use and protection of this vital natural resource.

• Improve monitor, exploration and analysis of the groundwater resource to manage them by identifying how much groundwater we can extract, when and where.
• Protect acquires recharge area from pollution.
• To ensure groundwater accessibility to all and help to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 6.

It is a United Nation Inter-agency coordination mechanism for all fresh water and sanitation related matters. It is comprised of UN entities and international organisation working on water and sanitation issues.

IGWRC is a UNESCO Global Groundwater Centre and it also works under World Metrological Organisation (WMO). It is financially supported by Government of Netherland.

It specialises in regional and trans boundary-level assessment and monitoring the groundwater resources.

Global Groundwater Information System (GGIS) is one of the flagship initiative of IGWRC.

• Groundwater is the water which that seeps through rocks and soil and is stored below the ground. The rocks in which groundwater is stored is called aquifers.
• India is the largest user of groundwater.
• As per Central Ground Water Board of India estimates, about 17% of available groundwater resources are overexploited.
• Solutions recommended are
  • integrate demand and supply side management offer the best options for sustainable use
  • strengthening community participation and rights in groundwater governance can improve groundwater management.