These are no ordinary reservoirs, they’re mega-basins. Unlike traditional dams that create artificial reservoirs by damming rivers or lakes, mega-basins draw reserves from underground aquifers. They are essentially enormous swimming pools that span, on average, 20 acres – equivalent to over 15 American football fields – and are lined with plastic. These basins are meant to provide “life insurance” for farmers, who are among the region’s heaviest water users in droughts and heat waves, but critics say this so-called climate-change adaptation is in fact, maladaptation. Almost two-thirds of the world’s population experiences water shortage for at least one month each year, and Christian Amblard, a hydrobiologist and an honorary director at France’s National Center for Scientific Research, says that basins are absolutely not the solution.
Groundwater is a vital resource, accounting for 98 percent of Earth’s unfrozen freshwater, providing one-third of global drinking water, and nearly half of the planet’s agricultural irrigation. However, despite our utter dependence on groundwater, we know relatively little about it. Scientists and state officials often don’t have a complete grasp of groundwater’s location, geology, depth, volume, and quality. UNESCO declared in 2022 that groundwater “is often poorly understood, and consequently undervalued, mismanaged and even abused,” and without more precise data, scientists lack useful models that could better guide its responsible management.
Groundwater experts believe that humans are relying on groundwater more than ever, and its use has derived a global sixfold increase over the past 70 years. Groundwater in arid and semi-arid regions is experiencing rapid depletion. Additionally, many aquifers, which cannot easily be cleaned as they are subterranean, are being contaminated by toxic chemicals, pesticides and fertilizers, and pumping-related pollutants, yet as these waters are hidden, few can see the consequences of our actions.
While French farmers argue that the water backup of basins is crucial to food security, many hydrology experts argue that overdependence on and overexploitation of a shrinking natural resource cannot be the solution to a problem created by the overdependence on and overexploitation of nonrenewable natural resources. Instead, groundwater tapping could be paired with other adaptations, such as reducing water use and consumption, swapping water-intensive crops for drought-resistant species adapted to local climates, and employing more efficient irrigation technologies.
In conclusion, surface water and groundwater should be managed like any other nonrenewable resource, regulated and safeguarded. Water scarcity is a problem that requires both long-term and short-term solutions. The over-dependence on a dwindling resource is not a viable solution, especially for future generations. Our actions today will inevitably create a ripple effect on the environment of tomorrow, and we must act responsibly and take measures to adapt sustainably.
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