Managed Aquifer Recharge
MAR as a Mechanism to Advance Water Policy Goals: a Perspective
The Water Report 220 - Managed Aquifer Recharge The imbalance between water supply and demand is of growing concern globally. Rarely a day goes by without news about the dwindling surface water supplies, with the Colorado River as the poster child. Coverage of approaches to addressing the supply/demand imbalance is broad, with strategies including augmentation, reuse, market mechanisms, and conservation. The dialogue involves not only diminishing surface water supplies but also the increasing role of, and threats to, groundwater — which accounts for 99% of Earth’s liquid freshwater (UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme 2022, see References, below). Not coincidentally, heightened dialogue on groundwater has coincided with World Water Day’s 2022 theme: “Groundwater — Making the Invisible Visible” and the annual United Nations World Water Development Report with the same moniker. Next August, the annual Stockholm World Water Week has the theme of “Seeing the Unseen: The Value of Water.” Next December, the 2022 UN-Water Summit on Groundwater will continue 2022’s global focus on groundwater.