Aquifers: Threatened Source of Water?
Sustainable and secure (drinking) water supply without exhausting the source of it, i.e. providing enough capacity for healthy renewal, is one of the major challenges. This in particular taking the climate change effects, e.g. rising temperatures, changes in vegetation, increasing evaporation, etc. into account. A number of regions, especially countries located closer to the equator like Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Libya, but also China are facing tremendous challenges with regard to water supply. A debate is going on whether to exploit so-called 'fossil' water. This source of fresh-water was accumulated over a very long time in the past, and renewal is almost impossible. On the other hand, this water source could stimulate economic development in regions that, until now, lack a proper economic and thus social prosperity. The questions, however, remains: is it useful to use such resources or do there exist other opportunities?
