EDF - Environmental Defense Fund Inc.
09/23/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 09/23/2026 06:50
EDF, IUCN and IWMI call for accelerating action on the global groundwater crisis ahead of the UN Water Conference
- Groundwater supplies are in crisis: About 70% of the world's major aquifers are experiencing irreversible long-term decline, imperiling food supplies, rural communities and ecosystems.
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Three international nongovernmental organizations have launched a Joint Statement on Global Groundwater Resilience to accelerate more action to reverse groundwater depletion.
(NEW YORK, September 23, 2026) - As groundwater levels rapidly plummet in regions around the world, leaving some communities without water and putting global food security and local economies at risk, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) launched a Joint Statement on Global Groundwater Resilience at Climate Week NYC today that calls for more action and investment to address the crisis.
Groundwater is a critical water supply buffer as droughts and desertification intensify, resulting in shrinking surface water from rivers and streams. But many groundwater aquifers are already being overextracted and wells have run dry in communities across the world.
The Joint Statement on Global Groundwater Resilience aims to strengthen cooperation and advance action in areas such as developing new data and decision-support tools, advancing sustainable and equitable groundwater governance, and fostering knowledge-sharing. EDF, IUCN and IWMI invite Member States and other institutions to endorse the Joint Statement in advance of the UN Water Conference in December in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates."Groundwater is critical to climate resilience but is now the most extracted natural resource in the world. We know solutions exist: EDF has been working on the ground to support communities with more robust data, stronger groundwater governance, and capacity building, but we must do more on a global scale to implement solutions more quickly and durably," said Ann Hayden, Vice President of Environmental Defense Fund's Water Program. "It's time to stop this cycle of groundwater depletion and catalyze action and financing now. The health of people, economies, ecosystems and our planet depend on it."
"You cannot govern what you do not measure, and you cannot protect what you do not govern. Groundwater has largely escaped both. IUCN is working with governments and partners to build the international framework this resource has never had - one with real targets and real accountability - ahead of the UN Water Conference in December," said Sofie Jaffe, Permanent Observer of IUCN to the UN.
"Groundwater underpins the water security of most of the world's economies, yet it remains one of the least-monitored assets on the planet - a blind spot investors can no longer afford. Local knowledge often fills that data gap with the sharpest signal we have. Pricing that knowledge into risk models isn't a nicety - it's what makes adaptation and mitigation investments bankable," said Rachael McDonnell, IWMI's Deputy Director General.
Groundwater By the Numbers
A whopping 97% of the Earth's unfrozen freshwater is stored beneath the ground, making groundwater the largest accessible freshwater reserve. However, groundwater depletion represents the single largest component of global declines in freshwater storage in non-glacier drying regions, at 68%, according to the World Bank's 2025 Continental Drying Report. (Depletion of surface water such as rivers accounts for 18%.)
Additional stark statistics highlighting the groundwater crisis, as outlined in the recent UN University Global Water Bankruptcy report, include:
- Around 70% of the world's major aquifers show long-term declining trends, many of them effectively irreversible on human time scales due to compaction and loss of aquifer storage capacity.
- Groundwater provides about 50% of global domestic water use and over 40% of irrigation water, tying both drinking water security and food production directly to rapidly depleting aquifers.
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Excessive groundwater extraction has already contributed to significant land subsidence over more than 6 million square kilometers - almost 5% of the global land area - including over 200,000 square kilometers of urban and densely populated zones where close to 2 billion people live.
Groundwater hotspots
Examples of the groundwater crisis in different regions include:
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In North America, the Colorado River Basin covering seven western states lost 27.8 million acre-feet of groundwater over more than 20 years, which is roughly equal to the storage capacity of Lake Mead in Arizona, the largest reservoir in the United States.
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Mexico City, which sources the majority of its water from groundwater, faced a "Day Zero" in 2024, with residents spending 25% of their income on water.
- In Asia, nearly 700 sinkholes have appeared in Turkey's Konya Plain by late 2025, directly linked to excessive groundwater pumping. In Chennai, India, overreliance on groundwater supplies contributed to a "Day Zero" when the city ran out of water.
- In Europe, Spain is one of the countries most impacted by degraded aquifers, with almost half of its aquifers in poor condition and 27% overexploited.
- In South America, aquifers in central and eastern Brazil are experiencing persistent groundwater depletion. Groundwater provides 55% of Brazil's water.
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41% of Africa's population (535 million people) live in areas where reduced groundwater quality could pose a significant health risk.
Despite the paramount importance of groundwater to agriculture, rural economies, community health, and ecosystems, this hidden underground resource is rarely mentioned in global discussions about climate change, water and food security.
EDF, IUCN and IWMI envision the Joint Statement on Global Groundwater Resilience as a critical first step leading up to the UN Water Conference in the UAE in December to catalyze political coordination, commitment and action to reverse the worsening groundwater crisis, ensure greater resilience and support climate adaptation - on a global scale.
Read the Joint Statement on Global Groundwater Resilience www.edf.org/gwstatement
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About EDF
With more than 3 million members, Environmental Defense Fund creates transformational solutions to the most serious environmental problems. To do so, EDF links science, economics, law, and innovative private-sector partnerships to turn solutions into action. edf.orgAbout IUCN
IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) is a membership Union of government and civil society organisations. Created in 1948, IUCN harnesses the knowledge, resources and reach of our more than 1,600 Member organisations and 19,000 experts to advance sustainable development and create a just world that values and conserves nature. iucn.orgAbout IWMI
The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) is an international, research-for-development organization that works with governments, civil society and the private sector to solve water problems in developing countries and scale up solutions. Through partnership, IWMI combines research on the sustainable use of water and land resources, knowledge services and products with capacity strengthening, dialogue and policy analysis to support implementation of water management solutions for agriculture, ecosystems, climate change and inclusive economic growth. Headquartered in Colombo, Sri Lanka, IWMI is a CGIAR Research Center with offices in 17 countries and a global network of scientists operating in more than 55 countries. www.iwmi.org
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