{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.018930041152263374, 'fraction_numerical': 0.002880658436213992, 'mean_word_length': 5.605978260869565, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Transboundary Aquifer Resources

Freshwater resources are found in aquifers, a scientific term for geological rock formations that contain water in their porous spaces. Aquifers contain 99% of all accessible freshwater on the planet and they are widely spread across all continents. Where aquifers cross international boundaries, they are known as transboundary systems, much as transboundary river basins. Until recently, transboundary aquifers did not receive much international interest, and since they occur below ground, they have remained ‘out of sight and out of mind’ of policy makers. Nevertheless, over 2 billion people on our planet entirely rely on groundwater for their daily water-related needs. Aquifers are well known to many water users and land owners, who have drilled many thousands of wells on their lands for irrigation of their crops – this has been called the ‘silent revolution,’ improving the economic status of millions of poor farmers. The resulting economic benefit has been accompanied by a silent chaos in groundwater management that has come about because of poor, or missing, regulations. While in the national context such conditions have resulted in loss of natural resources, because of over exploitation, at the international level, transboundary aquifers are potentially at a similar threat from unrecognized and unanticipated transboundary impacts. In recognition of this, scientists working for international cooperation, through the UNESCO International Hydrological Programme (IHP), have brought the topic into the international environmental agenda to enable countries to recognize and cooperate on their shared waters. An intense program of a global inventory was completed by 2010 and countries that share such important resources have commenced to recognize the value of aquifers. Shared aquifers need to be jointly assessed and measures taken to prevent their permanent loss and the consequent unintended damage to many groundwater-dependent ecosystems. Several significant projects involving transboundary aquifers are underway in South America, Africa, and Europe and the necessary scientific tools & economic instruments for their joint sustainable management are now becoming available. An emerging area of work is the sound governance of transboundary aquifers, for which the Global Environment Facility (GEF) has provided support to conduct a global programme of sensitization.