Groundwater in the Pacific

Alastair Grant, Associated Presswww.adaptation-undp.org

Photo: AFP

GROUNDWATER

Volcanics, Fiji Atolls, Kiribati

Su

sta

ina

ble

De

ve

lop

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nt

Go

als

The world’s lowest drinking water coverage

JMP data available at washdata.org, and the report: Progress on household drinking water,

sanitation and hygiene 2000-2017. Special focus on inequalities: UNICEF and WHO, 2019.

The world’s lowest sanitation coverage

JMP data available at washdata.org, and the report: Progress on household drinking water,

sanitation and hygiene 2000-2017. Special focus on inequalities: UNICEF and WHO, 2019.

Water Security Challenges

Alastair Grant, Associated Presswww.adaptation-undp.org

Photo: AFP

Water Security Challenges

Alastair Grant, Associated Presswww.adaptation-undp.org

Photo: AFP

• Remoteness – challenges in just getting there!

• Technologies promising a quick fix such as desalination can provide opportunities for atolls

and coastal communities - but many failures - operation and maintenance requirements

often overlooked or inaccessible

• Interior communities - continued reliance upon springs and other groundwater sources

Significant challenges - Rewards are high

Challenges in groundwater management

• “Pump and forget” approach - Pumping

systems pumping at a fixed rate –

regardless of the water quality

• Behaviour change - Acceptance of

groundwater for potable and non potable

uses – water quality standards

• Poor coordination of government –

unclear functions, uncoordinated data

sharing, policies and legislation can

impede management

“The main obstacle to

improved water and

sanitation systems is not the

quality of technology, but

rather the failure to capture

community interest and

ownership, and in training

people to wisely manage

water and sanitation

systems for the good of

everyone".

UN Water:

https://www.unwater.org/wat

er-facts/gender/

Science plus People = Sustainability

INNOVATIVE MONITORING APPLICATIONS

Application of targeted monitoring incorporating telemetry for improved understanding

• Bonriki, Kiribati – manual monitoring approaches from existing monitoring bores,

infrequent and disjointed data making interpretation and management difficult.

• Dedicated telemetered salinity and flow instruments adapted to existing horizontal

production bore infrastructure “galleries”.

• Datasets more accessible and reliable; improved understanding of freshwater lens

variability, improved operational management of high salinity production bores,

deliver an EWS for freshwater lens salinization.

NUMERICAL MODELLING

Advantages

• Improved understanding of groundwater

system

• Stakeholder rules, triggers and limits for

water supply can be established, (inclusion

of localised approaches to water supply

management)

• Insights on monitoring required - type and

frequency

• Resource managers empowered -

confidence on system behaviour – proactive

management and response to system

changes

FUTURE CHALLENGES

• Groundwater management in volcanic aquifers –

managing the needs for water supply, ecosystems

(springs), and economic development (agriculture,

bottled water industry).

• Enhanced coordination of government functions, data

sharing, policies and legislation

• Inclusion of traditional knowledge in governance

structures – improved acceptance, especially at the local

scale

• Application of numerical models to further improve

understanding – water quality modeling (contaminant

filtration in carbonate sands – nature based approaches)

• Forecast impact modelling – linked

groundwater/inundation modeling – determining

impacts to water supply and identification of risk

mitigation scenarios from inundation