Groundwater is a critical resource for human and environmental needs, providing drinking water, supporting agriculture, and sustaining ecosystems. However, the increasing demand for water, combined with climate change impacts, is putting significant pressure on our groundwater resources. Droughts, floods, irrigation and pressure on ecosystems are challenges that call for a systematic change, to ensure that enough good-quality water at any time will be available. On World Water Day, it is important to recognize the vital importance of groundwater and to advocate for sustainable governance and management practices!
Working towards a 'blue transition'
The Interreg North Sea VIB project Blue Transition and its 16 pilots will contribute to this systematic change, a ‘blue transition’ by:
- enabling land-use change in forests, farming lands, wetlands, peatlands or nature protected areas, both in the short and long term to secure groundwater resources.
- integrating and balancing agriculture with natural and urban areas.
- Improving and ensuring the future availability of enough and good-quality water, while helping to restore and revitalise natural habitats, reduce CO2 emissions and mitigating climate change.
To reach this we not only need technical solutions, but also approaches to ensure their implementation. We need supportive groundwater governance where solutions can be developed in cross cutting collaborations and be supported by a legislation that encourages holistic solutions and not fragmented solutions divided in silos!
Governance for Groundwater!
Because we realize the importance of groundwater management and collaboration among stakeholders , Blue Transition has a work package dedicated to governance and capacity building. This work package includes transnational knowledge exchange, capacity building and policy events to identify and manage governance challenges.
As a result, by 2026 the partners will have developed two strategies to:
- Link climate change adaptation into European Directives and a climate resilient soil- and groundwater management in the North Sea Region. This strategy will increase European attention for relevant project results.
- Improve capacity building for future water/soil managers by gathering lessons learnt from the Blue Transition“summer” schools. This will strengthen the regional/local benefits of the project results.
Remember, groundwater may be hidden, but it's always there for us when we need it. So let's give it the attention it deserves. Happy World Water Day!