It was World Water Day on 22^nd March, with a special focus on Groundwater.

Most of Europe’s drinking water and a significant proportion of water used in irrigation come from groundwater. A European Environment Agency (EEA) briefing, published on World Water Day, provides a European overview of this key resource that is under increasing pressure from pollution, abstraction and climate change.

The EEA briefing ‘Europe’s groundwater — a key resource under pressure‘ provides an overview of the state of groundwater in the European Union (EU). The briefing is published on the World Water Day 2022, with the theme ‘Groundwater: making the invisible visible’.

In the EU, groundwater supplies 65% of drinking water and 25% of water for agricultural irrigation. However, according to the latest EEA data, about a quarter of the total groundwater body area in the EU is in poor chemical status and 9% in poor quantitative status. Considering both poor chemical and quantitative status, about 29% of the EU’s groundwater body area lacks capacity to meet the needs of ecosystems and people, the EEA briefing states.

More on the EEA briefing can be found here.

Also launched, is the UN World Water Development Report 2022. The report is UN-Water’s flagship report on water and sanitation issues, focusing on a different theme each year. The report is published by UNESCO, on behalf of UN-Water and its production is coordinated by the UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme. The report gives insight on main trends concerning the state, use and management of freshwater and sanitation, based on work done by the Members and Partners of UN-Water. Launched in conjunction with World Water Day, the report provides decision-makers with knowledge and tools to formulate and implement sustainable water policies. It also offers best practices and in-depth analyses to stimulate ideas and actions for better stewardship in the water sector and beyond.

The UN report can be found here.