Storytelling is key in building integrative strategies for responsible groundwater management

KWR workshop on ‘Sustainable Use of Groundwater Resources: Storytelling with National Geographic’

KWR organized a workshop at the IWA World Water Conference in Toronto with the goal to demonstrate how storytelling could support building integrative strategies for responsible groundwater management. A key role was reserved for Paul Nwulu, storytelling expert at National Geographic Society. Paul set the scene by presenting National Geographic’s World Freshwater Initiative, that focuses on freshwater availability, quality, and sustainability by leveraging the development of a one of a kind geovisualization of the world’s freshwater availability. Paul presented the water gap around the globe, using the storytelling approach and information presented in the World Water Map by National Geographic Society and Utrecht University. The World Water Map helps us to understand how complex systems could be made insightful, where and why water gaps arise, how climate change might aggravate them – and even how they might be managed. National Geographic Society demonstrated how to create and communicate powerful stories that inspire action.

The use of storytelling combined with water systems modeling provides a valuable tool to i) create an equal knowledge base for stakeholders and policy makers, ii) explore and evaluate regional impacts of water use by a range of actors (farmers, drinking water companies, industries), iii) identify the potential of adaptive measures like water reuse and artificial groundwater recharge (fitting within the IWA strategy of reduce – reuse – replenish for a Water Wise World) and iv) facilitate the interaction and (inconvenient) dialogues between actors.

This was further demonstrated by Shafick Adams (Water Research Commission, South Africa), Mehul Patel (Orange County Water District, California) and Koen Zuurbier (PWN, the Netherlands), giving examples of regional scale initiatives to improve the sustainable use of groundwater resources from across the globe. For regions that are different in water system characteristics and water governance, these examples demonstrated and discussed different approaches to increase sustainable use of groundwater resources and how to facilitate the interaction between stakeholders in identifying shared strategies for responsible groundwater management.

What water resources story do you have to tell?

It was great to see how participants shared their (ground)water story in small groups and which barriers and knowledge gaps are experienced. It is clear that scientists, water managers and water utilities need to go beyond their own often more technological expertise to create support in improving sustainable groundwater use in their own region. Storytelling is a key element in this process.

So, what water resources story do you have to tell?