Publish at October 18 2022 Updated October 18 2022
Where does the water you consume come from? Maybe from a river or a dam, or maybe from a large reservoir far from your eyes, tens or hundreds of feet beneath your feet.
Aquifers are underground pockets of water from rainfall or snow melt . They provide half of the drinking water and almost all of the water for agricultural and industrial use. Although aquifers naturally filter water, significant contamination from pesticides, waste dumps, or septic tanks can affect potability. Aquifer depletion is more of a problem, when consumption exceeds annual recharge, which already occurs in regions of the Sahara and in the Ogallala aquifer, one of the largest in the United States.
Located in south-central South America, the Guarani aquifer (actually a system of aquifers) was discovered in the second half of the 20th century. It is one of the largest aquifers in the world; with an area of over one million km² (a little more than twice the area of France), divided between Brazil (61.65%), Argentina (20.98%), Paraguay (8.05%) and Uruguay (3.32%); a massive volume (around 31 000 km3); serving an estimated population of 15 million people.
The Guarani Aquifer marked at 1, in southern South America, connected to the Amazon Aquifer to the north. https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/13/4/530/htm
Guarani is the name of the indigenous people who thrived in the region before the Portuguese colonization of 1500. Today, the transboundary nature of the aquifer has culminated in an agreement between the four holder countries. The Guarani Aquifer Agreement follows the main principles of the United Nations transboundary aquifer law: equitable and reasonable use of water, territorial sovereignty over the respective positions of the aquifer, the obligation not to harm the environment or other countries in the agreement, cooperation, and exchange of information and data. It was the fruit of preventive water diplomacy and was developed during the absence of conflicts between the holding regions.
This agreement was made possible by the joint work of academics, governments and international organizations. Between 2002 and 2010, the Guarani Project expanded hydrogeological knowledge about the aquifer, analyzed its impact on the ecosystem, and prospected the cooperation of the four border countries.
After a fruitful period of elaboration, the joint work that characterized the Guarani Project phase dispersed. Cross-border cooperation continued in sporadic projects initiated earlier, such as the pilot studies between the cities of Concordia (Arg)-Salto (Uru) and Rivera (Uru)-Santana do Livramento (Bra).
The agreement, although signed in 2010 by the four countries, came into force only at the end of 2020, after Paraguay's late ratification (Uruguay ratified the agreement in 2011, Argentina in 2012, and Brazil in 2017). The reason for the delays range from political wrangling to the loss of momentum of the Guarani Project initiatives, against a backdrop of tranquility in the face of the region's relative abundance of water and the absence of conflicts over its access.
Although the agreement is a considerable milestone in transboundary aquifer diplomacy, it only contains guidelines on the use of the Guarani aquifer. More time and work will therefore be needed to realize responsible and widespread use of this asset. In December 2022 the United Nations Groundwater Summit will take place in Paris under the slogan "Making the invisible visible". Can this event revive the Guarani giant?
Few of us experience drought and thirst. However, it is possible to consider that the climate change affects thousands of people today and could affect countless others in the future. Areas with water scarcity are likely to increase in the future; it is estimated that by 2030, 700 million people may be displaced to access water. Right now, 4 billion people face extreme scarcity for at least one month each year.
For most of us, readers of this site, access to water has never posed a problem. We simply turn on the tap to enjoy an abundant flow, which runs out when it suits us. Would it be going too far to relate the "invisibility" of aquifers to the "blindness" of irresponsible water use? How do you use water on a daily basis?
References
The Guarani Aquifer System: From a Beacon of hope to a question mark in the governance of transboundary aquifers - Francesco Sindico, Ricardo Hirata, Alberto Manganelli
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214581817303464
Diplomatic Advances and Setbacks of the Guarani Aquifer System in South America - Ricardo Hirata, Roberto Eduardo Kirchheim, Alberto Manganelli
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1462901120310339
The Agreement on the Guarani Aquifer: Cooperation without conflict - Pilar Carolina Villar, Wagner Costa Ribeiro
https://globalwaterforum.org/2013/09/02/the-agreement-on-the-guarani-aquifer-cooperation-without-conflict/
The Agreement on the Guarani Aquifer enters into force: what changes now? - Pilar Carolina Villar
https://www.internationalwaterlaw.org/blog/2020/11/16/the-agreement-on-the-guarani-aquifer-enters-into-force-what-changes-now/
South America deal to share huge aquifer swamped by politics - Chris Arsenault
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-latam-environment-landrights-analysis-idUSKCN12O1S2
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