Non-Renewable Groundwater Resources

Abstract

Perhaps no other water policy issue has greater philosophic disagreement than the exploitation of non-renewable groundwater. Non-renewable groundwater is water present in aquifers in which the rate of recharge is insignificant within the framework of the current water budget of the aquifer. Extracted groundwater is produced primarily (if not entirely) from storage. Use of non-renewable groundwater is thus inherently unsustainable under strict definitions of the term.