Groundwater is an increasingly important resource for urban and rural potable water supply, irrigated agriculture, and industry, in addition to its natural environmental role of sustaining river flows and aquatic ecosystems.

The paper debates that water security can never be fully achieved, because ever-changing physical and economic conditions will require the continuous adaptation of water systems and behaviors in order to meet the growing demands and changing climatological conditions.

The paper provides an excellent overview of the global groundwater economy and assesses the opportunities it offers for irrigated agriculture and also the risks it poses for depleting and degrading aquifer systems.

This technical focus paper is the second in a series of papers that provide a critical review of progress made in planning and putting integrated water resource management (IWRM) into practice. The papers synthesise the challenges, the successes, the setbacks, and the direction for further integration.

This new paper bu Global Water Partnership presents an overview of the benefits of urban groundwater use, together with some insidious and persistent problems that groundwater can present for urban development.

This paper argues that the coming battle for global water, food, and energy security will most likely be won or lost in Asia. This is a region that relies very much on irrigation for food production and where already two thirds of the world's 850 million poor and hungry live.

The twin challenges of accessing water and energy for food and agriculture are central to reducing poverty and hunger in Asia. This paper compares and contrasts the ways in which India and China are tackling the same challenge of harnessing water resources under growing water scarcity and competing demand.

In a period where public financial resources are particularly limited, how do we prioritize investments in water security? Which aspects are most critical for enabling growth? What are the most significant investments needed to increase water security?

Transboundary water resources cross national and administrative borders across the globe, supporting in a myriad of ways a majority of the world’s population and ecosystems.

The complexity of water resources systems can often be addressed by applying decision support systems (DSS) and computerised models, which can transparently present the elements of the system and their interrelationships.