Water is essential for human, animal and plant life and is one of the most important natural resources. There is an abundance of water on Earth, with about 70% of the Earth's surface covered by water, estimated at about 1.4 billion km³. However, most of it is salty and only about 2.5% of the world's water resources (about 35 million km³) is fresh water.
However, only a fraction of the world's freshwater is available for drinking, as about 69% is locked up as snow and ice, mainly in Antarctica and Greenland. More than 30% (about 10.5 million km³) is stored under the earth's surface as groundwater - the most important available freshwater resource. Lakes, reservoirs and rivers account for much less than half of the freshwater reserves.
Groundwater is the most widespread and used resource. It is invaluable to people living in arid regions, as it is the only reliable source of water they have. However, most of this groundwater is fossil and little or no replenishment takes place. Global groundwater consumption is estimated at 1,000 km³ per year and global groundwater recharge at 13,000 km³ per year. In many countries, groundwater is the main source of drinking water, as much as 70% in Germany. In countries such as Denmark, Lithuania and Austria, groundwater is almost the sole source of public water supply.
Groundwater supplies around 4 billion people worldwide. The importance of groundwater will increase significantly in the future as it is a safe and high quality drinking water resource. If used wisely and sustainably, it can play an important role in solving regional water crises around the world.
BGR advises federal ministries such as the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN) and the Federal Foreign Office (AA) on all issues relating to groundwater exploration, the quantitative and qualitative assessment of groundwater resources and their use, groundwater protection and the geothermal use of groundwater. Sustainable groundwater management is a key focus of our development cooperation activities.
