Ground
water abstraction for agricultural/industrial purposes
RD-10
Resource
Depletion
Pressure
1 Indicator
definition and unit of measurement
Total
annual amount of ground water, abstracted for use in agriculture and in
industry, expressed in cubic metres per year.
2 Placement
in the framework:
5EAP:
Partly
deals with natural resources
in
Chapter 5: The themes and targets of the programme, section 5.3: Protection of
nature and biodiversity, table 10, and especially section 5.4: Management of
water resources, table 11. Chapter 4: Selected target sectors, section 4.4: The
agriculture sector.
Agenda
21:
Agenda
21 in many of its chapters calls for policies and actions in various areas,
that take into account the vulnerability and availability of natural resources,
and for an increased efficiency in the use of these resources (e.g. Chapter 4:
Changing consumption patterns, Chapter 10: Integrated approach to the planning
and management of land resources, Chapter 12: Managing fragile ecosystems:
combating desertification and drought, Chapter 13: Promoting sustainable
agriculture and rural development, Chapter 18: Protection of the quality and
supply of freshwater resources: application of integrated approaches to the
development, management and use of water resources).
International
conventions and agreements:
Article
130 of the Treaty on the European Union (Maastricht, 1992) calls for prudent
and rational utilisation of natural resources. The Convention on the
Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (Bern, 1979) in article
9 calls for prevention of serious damage to crops, forests, water and other
forms of property.
Ranking:
Core
ranking:
10
(27%)
Policy
Relevance:
7
(2.9)
Analytical
Soundness:
2
(3.1)
Responsiveness:
4
(2.5)
Most
appropriate related state indicator:
The
total fresh ground water reserves available for abstraction.
3 Significance:
Purpose:
In
many countries the most important pressure on fresh ground water resources are
withdrawals for industry and agriculture. Very often the quality of the ground
water is far better than required for agricultural or industrial use.
Nevertheless ground water is used because it is cheaper. This leads to a
situation that, because of huge withdrawals by agriculture and industry,
shortages of good quality ground water can occur for drinking water production.
Relevance:
Relevance
of this indicator is high because it depicts the main pressure on the ground
water resources in terms of quantity. Because of the limited number of economic
sectors involved, and the possibility of monitoring on the basis of licences,
this indicator also is very appropriate for policy development and enhancement.
Linkages
to other pressure indicators:
There
is a linkage with WP-2: Ground water abstraction and RD-1: Water consumption
per capita (including Ground water abstraction for drinking water purposes).
Targets:
Reference
levels for this indicator can be derived from existing policy targets in the
field of ground water withdrawal, but it is also possible to estimate a
sustainable level of water withdrawal on the basis of the existing resources
and the natural recharge.
4 Methodological
description and underlying definitions:
Underlying
definitions and concepts:
The
use of ground water for industry and agriculture includes the use as process
water, cooling water, cleaning water and irrigation water.
Measurement
methods:
The
indicator is measured in cubic metres per year. The amounts sometimes are laid
down in licences for withdrawal. If not the withdrawals have to be estimated on
the basis of sector specific figures and climatological conditions.
Limitations
of the indicator:
The
indicator gives a trend but it is difficult to relate withdrawals to acceptable
or sustainable withdrawal levels.
Alternative
definitions:
The
indicator could be restricted to ground water withdrawals in critical areas in
view of drinking water production and areas with vulnerable ecosystems. On the
one hand the indicator will be of a higher relevance for policy development and
enhancement, and on the other hand the indicator will probably be hard to
quantify. Therefore the total abstraction is considered the better indicator.
