On the Water Front

Observations from World Water Week: Indigenous voices gain center stage; groundwater remains largely overlooked

Aerial view of audience and stage at World Water WeekLast month EDF co-hosted a side event at World Water Week in Stockholm with an ambitious goal: to catalyze collaboration around a global movement to tackle the groundwater crises affecting many regions of the world.

The event, co-hosted with the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and WELL Labs, addressed the need to raise the profile of the groundwater crisis at international water and climate change convenings like World Water Week, particularly given groundwater’s importance to food security, community health and livelihoods.

Despite the limited attention on groundwater at World Water Week, we observed other encouraging shifts at the conference this year, including the elevation of Indigenous voices and a greater focus on the connections between water resilience and climate change adaptation and mitigation. Here is a deeper look at these World Water Week highlights.

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Measuring what matters: Communities in India assess water solutions

People behind a farm pond with a staff gauge to measure water levels

A team installed a staff gauge in a farm pond in Toopran, Telangana, to measure water levels over time. Photo credit: Vanya Mehta

This blog was co-authored by Vanya Mehta from WELL Labs.

Water-saving solutions behave differently across India, depending on a region’s hydrogeology and land use patterns. An intervention that is successful in one landscape may be a failure in another. By nature, water is dynamic, and, with the added variability of climate change, difficult to predict. As our scientific understanding evolves, both of water and solutions to conserve it, there is a need to continuously monitor the impact of these solutions on both farmers and water.

In most cases, the water sector relies on short-term monitoring and evaluation (M&E) assessments that measure inputs and outputs, rather than long-term outcomes. This can lead to gaps in our long-term understanding of water sustainability and equity.

For example, in discussions with four experienced civil society organizations (CSOs) in India, we found that donors required them to report on the number of outputs, such as rainwater harvesting units constructed or number of farmers trained on a water-saving production technique. Water levels, soil moisture, and other indicators of water conservation were not measured during the projects. In such a scenario, it would be difficult to confirm whether the units constructed or farmers trained led to any impactful change in critical outcomes related to groundwater levels, recharge potential, agricultural yields, or total irrigation applied. Both secondary data and farmer recall data is not sufficient to understand variable environmental impacts.

To solve this issue, the hydrology team working on the project (Ishita Jalan, Lakshmikantha NR, Clinton Fernandes, Anas KP, Vivek Grewal, and Gopal Penny) has developed a protocol for field-based, community-led continuous monitoring.

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Western states are stepping up to protect precious water supplies. Here’s how.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and water and water stakeholders at signing ceremony

EDF’s Vanessa Puig-Williams (far right) joins Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (center) and other water stakeholders at a signing ceremony for a $20 billion, 20-year package to fund water projects.

As federal environmental programs and funding come under attack, states across the West are adopting major policies and dedicating more money to support long-term water resilience, underscoring how water bridges political divides. Here’s a roundup of the actions that were strongly supported by the EDF Water Team.

Texas goes big on water with $20 billion package

Alongside a large coalition of stakeholders, EDF supported and helped to shape a $20 billion, 20-year ($1 billion per year) funding package that will support water supply development and infrastructure repairs, including aquifer storage and recovery projects, agricultural water efficiency projects, and wastewater reuse. The package, signed by the governor in a ceremonyWednesday, is the first-ever investment in water of this magnitude in Texas. It will go to voters for final approval as a constitutional amendment on the November ballot.

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How to build a national effort to secure America’s disappearing groundwater

America’s food supply depends on increasingly strained aquifers. Here are some essential building blocks for a national effort to secure our groundwater.

A center pivot system using groundwater to irrigate a field in New Mexico. Rural communities across the Southwest face rapidly declining groundwater levels. Photo: Balvarius.

 

In early 2024, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology’s (PCAST) requested input on how to address the country’s groundwater challenges. For EDF’s Climate Resilient Water Systems team, which has been working on this issue for over a decade, this provided an opportunity to reflect on what strategies have been effective and where we think future efforts should be focused. We submitted written recommendations to the President’s Council and accepted a subsequent invitation from the committee to participate in an in-person workshop to flesh out possible strategies. Read More »

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EDF deepens efforts to recharge groundwater, bolster farmer prosperity in India


EDF’s Leah Beaulac (bottom right) and Nikhil Goveas (right) listen to a groundwater user group meeting in Kadiri, Andhra Pradesh.

EDF is helping farmers address one of their core climate challenges: securing a reliable water supply. This September, an EDF team led by Ann Hayden, Nikhil GoveasGopal Penny and Leah Beaulac conducted a series of comprehensive site visits and workshops across drought-prone areas of central India.

Water availability in India is a core climate issue for the world. India is by far the largest user of groundwater in the world. More than 60% of the country’s irrigated agriculture and 85% of drinking water supplies depend on groundwater. Global food prices and the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of farmers depend on India finding a path to sustainable groundwater use. EDF is committed to building a network of partnerships to help achieve this critical climate goal.

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Here’s how land repurposing is beginning to transform strained communities and ecosystems in California

Satellite image of California's Central Valley

California’s sprawling Central Valley is confronting declining groundwater levels and increasing ‘climate whiplash’ between drought and flood.

Next time you find yourself looking up driving directions on your phone, scroll over to central California and zoom out a bit. Turn on the satellite layer. What you’ll see is a mindboggling patchwork. A massive brown and green checkerboard, cut up in rectangles, sliced by highways, besieged by a ring of arid foothills. This is California’s famed and troubled Central Valley — an agricultural powerhouse that’s increasingly associated with headlines about disappearing groundwater and growing waves of flood and drought. Filled with sharp lines, it’s not a landscape one would immediately associate with collaboration and transformation.   Read More »

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