World Water Day 2022 Shines a Light on Groundwater
Today is World Water Day, an annual United Nations observance day on March 22 drawing attention to water conservation and the more than 2 billion people currently living without access to safe water.
This year’s theme – “Groundwater: making the invisible visible” – was picked to highlight the impact of groundwater, which exists in aquifers and saturated zones beneath the land surface. Groundwater provides almost half of all drinkable water across the world, but only its impact is visible on the world above ground. The theme is meant to draw attention to the fact that since most people never see groundwater, they tend to not visualize it or think about it in terms of sustainable management, climate change impacts, or losses.
ME&A thinks about groundwater today on World Water Day as we do every day. We have advised and worked on many projects over the years dealing with groundwater with the USAID/Armenia Advanced Science and Partnerships for Integrated Resource Development (ASPIRED) Project a recent significant example. Earlier this year, we produced a storymap showcasing our work under ASPIRED to reduce the rate of groundwater extraction in Armenia’s Ararat Valley to sustainable levels.
Here are links to some of our recent “News and Views” posts highlighting our work on important groundwater issues in Armenia and other places in the world:
- Under ASPIRED, an ME&A-led team oversaw construction of a new pumping station and rehabilitated the water supply network in the village of Sardarapat, Armenia.
- Two ME&A executives participated in a Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) roundtable Nov. 15, 2021, on “Challenges and Opportunities for the Water Agenda in International Development.”’
- Under ASPIRED, an ME&A-led team oversaw construction of a new pumping station and rehabilitated the water supply network in the village of Sardarapat, Armenia.
- Under the Tajikistan Safe Drinking Water Project, ME&A helped provide more than 110,000 rural villagers across Tajikistan with safe, dependable, and sustainable potable water supplies.
- Under ASPIRED, an ME&A-led team trained officials from Armenia’s Ministry of Environment as well as academic institutions on making better decisions using geographic information systems (GIS) and three-dimensional groundwater modeling.
- An ME&A-led team identified and analyzed blockages hindering the Government of Tanzania from achieving its water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) targets.
- Under ASPIRED, an ME&A-led team oversaw completion of irrigation efficiency improvements benefiting 150 households in the Armenian village of Mrgashat.
- Under a World Bank contract, an ME&A-led team created an Irrigation and Drainage Management Information System integrating operation and maintenance of irrigation systems with monitoring and evaluation and programmatic support for use at the municipal level in Albania. The system provided a modern, uniform, and centralized management information system, including GIS.
- Under ASPIRED, an ME&A-led team worked with Armenia’s Ministry of Environment to develop a methodology to assess the self-purification capacity of rivers and related enforcement mechanisms.
- An ME&A-led team conducted a mid-term evaluation of the USAID-funded Water Resources Integration Development Initiative (WARIDI) in Tanzania.
- Under ASPIRED, an ME&A-led team helped the community of Sayat-Nova in Armenia use recycled discharge water from a nearby fish farm for irrigation.
- Under ASPIRED, an ME&A-lead team provided Armenia’s Ministry of Nature Protection the ability to monitor in real time water usage of fisheries in the Ararat Valley.
- Working under USAID’s Water Sector Communications and Knowledge Management (WS/CKM) Program, an ME&A-led team managed the launch of USAID’s first ever Water and Development Strategy Implementation Field Guide.