About Aquatic Resources

Water has some of the most unique properties of all the substances on our planet. It is essential for all life on earth, and for maintaining aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems and the biological communities they support. It also is the most essential natural resource for economic development. Water is present on the land surface in rivers, lakes and wetlands, and under the land surface in groundwater aquifers. Water can be characterized as finite, sensitive and precious. It is finite in that we have only so much water on our planet (“…all the water on earth is all the water there is”). It is sensitive in that it is very susceptible to being overexploited and polluted. It is precious in that we have no substitutes for its many uses.

The ability of nature to provide freshwater in a sustainable manner to meet human and ecosystem needs, however, is being exceeded in many regions around the world, due to such factors as increasing population and technological growth, urbanization, industrialization and increasing agricultural production to meet human needs. These factors are having negative impacts not only on the quantity and quality of human water supplies and uses, but also on the natural environment from which it is taken.

The key to addressing unsustainable water resources rests in properly evaluating and integrating the myriad of interrelated scientific, technical, and socioeconomic elements that comprise this important issue. This necessitates a comprehensive, integrated approach to water resource development, management and use, as well as an understanding and appreciation of the linkages between water and the other primary components of our environment and the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems it supports. Most of all, it requires concerted action on the part of all involved stakeholders, directed to the goal of sustainable aquatic resources.