Utah Ground Water Association

About UGWA

Discover a reservoir of resources for underground water business, conservation, and connection.

Our Vision

UGWA helps to promote the responsible development, management, and use of water through education.

Our Mission

We are a community of groundwater professionals working together to advance groundwater knowledge and our members' successes through education and outreach; advocacy; cooperation and information exchange; and enhancement of professional practices.

Our Goals

To further educate the members and the public as to the proper use of our limited resource. We monitor and react to the constantly changing political and environmental climate surrounding the water industry in our local, regional, and national communities.

Key Statistics*

Extraction

For over 30 years, Groundwater is the world’s most extracted raw material with withdrawal rates currently in the estimated range of 982 km3 /year. [1]

Agriculture

About 70% of groundwater withdrawn worldwide is used for agriculture. [2]

Drinking Water

Groundwater provides almost half of all drinking water worldwide. [3]

Irrigation

Globally, about 38% of irrigated lands are equipped for irrigation with groundwater. [4]

Total Volume

The total volume of groundwater in the upper 2 km of the Earth’s continental crust (not inclusive of high-latitude North America or Asia) is approximately 22.6 million km3 , of which 0.1 million km3 to 5.0 million km3 is less than 50 years old (judged as “modern” or recently recharged). [5]

Modern Groundwater

The volume of modern groundwater is equivalent to a body of water with a depth of about 3 m spread over the continents. [6]

Statistics Resources

Groundwater | Facts About Global Groundwater Usage. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ngwa.org/what-is-groundwater/About-groundwater/facts-about-global-gr

  1. Margat, J., and J. van der Gun. 2013. Groundwater around the World. CRC Press/Balkema.
  2. Ibid.
  3. Smith, M., K. Cross, M. Paden, and P. Laban. 2016. Spring — Managing groundwater sustainability. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland.
  4. Siebert, S., et al. 2010. Groundwater use for irrigation — a global inventory. Hydrology and Earth Systems Science 14, no. 10: 1863–1880. www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/14/ 1863/2010/doi:10.5194/hess-14-1863-2010.
  5. Gleeson, T., K.M. Befus, S. Jasechko, E. Luijendijk, and M.B. Cardendas. 2016. The global volume and distribution of modern groundwater. Nature Geoscience 9, no. 2: 161-167.
  6. Ibid.
  7. Margat, J., and J. van der Gun. 2013. Groundwater around the World. CRC Press/Balkema
  8. Ibid.

Become a Member!

UGWA membership costs $60 per year and is valid for one person. Many organizations in our community buy membership for several or all of their team members. The Utah Ground Water Association is affiliated with the National Ground Water Association and the Mountain States Ground Water Association. Click here to learn more!