Groundwater in Rural Development : Facing the Challenges of Supply and Resource Sustainability

Groundwater in Rural Development : Facing the Challenges of Supply and Resource Sustainability

Some 200 million people lived on Planet Earth at the start of the modern era. That number rose to 2.5 billion by 1950. At mid-2008, the population is now 7.0 billion and is expected to reach 9.0 billion by 2040. It thus took 1,950 years for the global population to grow ten-fold but only an additional 58 years to nearly triple. And throughout this period the global availability of water resources has remained more or less constant. Growing ever more food to feed rising populations will be possible only with increasingly large amounts of water being used for agricultural irrigation, even allowing for further advances in plant genetics. Groundwater widely developed by private initiative but often stimulated by 'soft loan' finance, guaranteed crop prices, and rural energy subsidies will be a very important source of irrigation water. At the same time groundwater will continue to be the predominant source of household water for the rural population in developing nations.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Foster, Stephen, Chilton, John, Moench, Marcus, Cardy, Franklin, Schiffler, Manuel
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2008-10
Subjects:AGRICULTURAL IRRIGATION, AGRICULTURAL USE OF GROUNDWATER, AQUIFERS, AVAILABILITY OF WATER, BENEFITS OF GROUNDWATER USE, COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT, CONSTRUCTION, CROP PRODUCTION, CROP YIELDS, DECISION MAKING, DRILLING RIGS, DRINKING WATER, DROUGHT, ELECTRICITY, ENGINEERING, FOOD SECURITY, GROUNDWATER, GROUNDWATER ABSTRACTION, GROUNDWATER DEVELOPMENT, GROUNDWATER FOR IRRIGATION, GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT, GROUNDWATER PUMPING, GROUNDWATER RESOURCE, GROUNDWATER RESOURCES, HOUSEHOLD WATER, IRRIGATED AGRICULTURE, IRRIGATION, IRRIGATION CANALS, IRRIGATION WATER, OPERATION &AMP, MAINTENANCE, POLLUTION, PROTECTION OF GROUNDWATER, PUMPING, PUMPS, SALINE INTRUSION, STAKEHOLDER PARTICIPATION, SURFACE WATER, WATER DEMAND, WATER NEEDS, WATER SECTOR, WATER SOURCES, WATER SUPPLY, WATER SUPPLY COSTS, WATER TABLE, WATER TABLES, WATER USERS, WELLS,
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2008/10/10030584/groundwater-rural-development-facing-challenges-supply-resource-sustainability
https://hdl.handle.net/10986/11749
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Some 200 million people lived on Planet Earth at the start of the modern era. That number rose to 2.5 billion by 1950. At mid-2008, the population is now 7.0 billion and is expected to reach 9.0 billion by 2040. It thus took 1,950 years for the global population to grow ten-fold but only an additional 58 years to nearly triple. And throughout this period the global availability of water resources has remained more or less constant. Growing ever more food to feed rising populations will be possible only with increasingly large amounts of water being used for agricultural irrigation, even allowing for further advances in plant genetics. Groundwater widely developed by private initiative but often stimulated by 'soft loan' finance, guaranteed crop prices, and rural energy subsidies will be a very important source of irrigation water. At the same time groundwater will continue to be the predominant source of household water for the rural population in developing nations.

Similar Items