Groundwater and the Environment: Applications for the Global Community

Historically, water has been treated as an inexhaustible resource. However, with the growth of population and development of industry and agriculture, freshwater demand has increased drastically, and its shortage felt in roughly 60% of the Earth. As early as 1931, renowned Russian scholar A.P. Karpansky wrote: "Water is not only a mineral resource, not only a means for developing agriculture. Water is a real culture bearer, it is a living blood, that creates life where there was none".