Groundwater Sustainability: Towards a Common Understanding

This report summarizes the discussion and outcome of a workshop held on May 12, 2009 at the University of Minnesota on the Sustainable Management of Groundwater. This was the second of two workshops held on this subject sponsored by the Water Resources Center of the University of Minnesota and the Freshwater Society1, to foster communication and understanding about the quantity of Minnesota's groundwater resources, and what technical considerations are needed to manage it sustainably. Groundwater is a vitally important resource. About 90 percent of Minnesotans get some or all their drinking water from the aquifers that lie beneath almost every part of the state. Agriculture and many of the other industries that sustain the state's economy consume tens of billions gallons of groundwater every year. Groundwater also feeds lakes, streams and wetlands. Without the regular discharge they receive from aquifers, many streams would dry up in the winter and in summer droughts. Humans have a huge, and growing, impact on aquifers and the water flowing through them. Human decisions and actions affect both the quality of groundwater in the aquifers and the quantity of it that is available to support natural ecosystems or provide for human use.