Aus 'must help' groundwater crisis
A pump used to access groundwater in Australia. A recent UNESCO report has wanted that degradation and depletion of the world's precious groundwater reserves is continuing unabated - Professor Craig Simmons argues Australia is in a position to tackle the issue and lead the rest of the world in improving groundwater management. Image: fotofritz16/iStockphoto Australia should take a lead in tackling the emerging global crisis in groundwater, says one of the nation’s most eminent water scientists.Professor Craig Simmons, director of the National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training (NCGRT), was commenting on a recent UNESCO report warning that degradation and depletion of the world’s precious reserves of groundwater was continuing unabated on a global scale.“There is undoubtedly a very serious situation emerging with respect to groundwater in certain parts of the world. In the 1990s, the world extracted about 102 cubic kilometres a year, but in the 2000s this rose to 145...