Groundwater use to reduce natural hazard susceptibilities and inequities in the metacrisis

This is a Preprint and has not been peer reviewed. This is version 1 of this Preprint.

Add a Comment

You must log in to post a comment.


Comments

There are no comments or no comments have been made public for this article.

Downloads

Download Preprint

Authors

Tom Gleeson, Giuliano Di Baldassarre, Makoto Taniguchi, Endo Takahiro

Abstract

Long-term thinking is broadly advocated for groundwater - the largest available freshwater resource that is essential for drinking water, irrigation and ecosystems around the world. Long-term thinking is crucial to support sustainability of this slowly renewed resource, but here we propose another crucial, novel and emerging approach for groundwater: short-term use over days and months during or after various natural hazards such as earthquakes, wildfires, floods and droughts. As natural hazards are compounded by other social, political and economic crises in the metacrisis, groundwater is emerging as a strategic solution that is inexpensive, speedy and distributed. We review emerging risks and successes while arguing for a shift of mindset, policy and planning as well as a deeply interdisciplinary and equity-driven approach incorporating disaster sociology, environmental justice, sustainability science and sociohydrology. We offer examples of hope, thought leadership and policy direction for hazards around the world that share a common solution: groundwater.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.31223/X51X4J

Subjects

Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Hydrology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Keywords

disaster sociology, environmental justice, sustainability science and sociohydrology, sustainability science and sociohydrology., groundwater, natural hazards, environmental justice, sustainability science, sociohydrology

Dates

Published: 2024-09-26 09:09

Last Updated: 2024-09-26 16:09

License

CC-By Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International