Groundwater Monetization

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Groundwater in arid areas is depleting rapidly. Proper monetization schemes for water abstraction are a sustainable solution to manage groundwater resources.

We are developing a software platform to monitor & control groundwater, combining new IoT and Earth Observation technologies.

We know that monetization of groundwater is done by giving permits and sometimes self-reporting abstraction volumes. But this needs to be better when droughts increase and water levels are surpassing dangerous low levels.

We also know that California and parts of Africa started the introduction of modern groundwater monitoring and monetizing schemes.

We are looking for examples, initiatives or possibilities for groundwater monetization. It all comes down to one thing: valuing water.

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8 Answers

  1. Thank you for bringing into discussion this subject. In Romania we have a region along the Danube river left side which is in danger of desertification. In the '50-'60 there were some land rehabilitation works of re forestation. Unfortunately, by the '90 locals missed understand the utility and cut the forest. Now, without irrigation and vegetal reinforcement, the desert comes back.

  2. I follow your initiative with interest.

    In Kenya, the national water resources management authority is mandated to issue abstraction permits accordingly, yet the majority of old consumers never had permits nor have made attempts to acquire them. Every Tom, Dick, and Harry is drilling new boreholes behind neighbourhood walls at times without legal permits, making it a nightmare for authorities to accurately account for groundwater abstraction. Even the metered ones with permits at times make modifications to cheat the system or false report. The only regulatory measure that could help is the set arbitrary level of maximum abstraction of the recharge, in Kenya that is averaged at 10%, which in itself is difficult to monitor when aquifers are not well characterized nor their underbellies well studied..

    I have encountered a rural community which abstracts borehole water using mobile money tokens. This to me is a great control since one can monitor point abstraction levels accurately, while misuse is minimized through the financial obligation on the part of the user. Community members end up abstracting only what they require for their households.

  4.  

    Simon

    I am investigating a long term Managed Aquifer Recharge strategy for several very water stressed regions in Africa. We are contemplating using desalinated water pumped to suitable recharge points close enough to the coast. Will your tool be able add value here? Send details to gordon@gurumanzi.com

    1 Comment

    1. Thank you. Yes i think we add value because we can combine sensor data and remote sensing. have a look at blue-value.com for the moment. I will come back to you later as our product is still in development and collecting enduser inputs. So your project is for sure of interest to us  

  5. I suppose it only a matter of time before Global terrorist thinking would figure out a way to control another part of your life.  If there are any sane people left l will let you in on a microbiological and economic fact. Modern technology exists to recycle 100% of all water anywhere at anytime.  The cost of doing so is extremely inexpensive.  The quality is so much higher than the best chlorinated death juice on tap.  Money grabbing elitists are pillaging all they can before the difficult time comes around again.   If you do not ask questions you will be the one "PAYING" for it! George N John 2004 131(2).jpg

  6. Hi Simon, maybe I don't understand your groundwater monetization system properly.  I would have thought that the key issue to prevent depletion of groundwater resources would be to ensure that abstraction is less than the recharge rate, and hence managing abstraction is first and foremost the main requirement to ensure sustainable utilisation.  This involves not only a pump yield test, but also a proper assessment of the recharge of the aquifer under different rainfall scenarios (e.g. 10 year drought).  However if your approach helps to ensure license holders do not over-pump the aquifer (pump more than they are licensed to abstract), then I am in the picture.  In South Africa farmers using more than a base amount of water (either surface or underground) are required to meter and report the quantities used.  They are charged accordingly.  However it is difficult to monitor whether the reporting is a true reflection of actual use.

    1 Comment

    1. You are right, For sure this is about making sure that farmers stay within their budget allocation. The tool will also enable enforcement of the water budgets through remote sensing. So we sense the volume of abstraction, the context of the water by realtime data and then we overlay that in one tool with weekly or daily satellite images. To detect e.g. illigal irrigation

  7. Simon,

    Would like to learn more where you are in your development of your software platform...we are currently working with ground water groups in Cape Town South Africa...

    Regards,

    jamie Gordy

    jgordy@smartwaters.io

     

    2 Comments

  8. This is seemingly a very grey area in terms of resource monitoring and here we are actually planing to launch a Groundwater Monitoring exercise next week with a pilot in Harare. Currently we have instituted $3/1000 litre abstraction with strict monitoring of measuring devices installed. This rate is a bit high during a good water season/year but will be too low in a poor water year where the business of water selling will shoot to diz heights. I would really appreciate the new advanced technology you have engineered from there if we could share and help manage our scarce resource.

     I rest my case for now.

    Thank you.

     

    Water Resources Specialist

    Zimbabwe

    1 Comment