GRIPP

Groundwater Solutions Initiative for Policy & Practice

Coordinator – Karen Villholth (IWMI Southern Africa)

The Groundwater Solutions Initiative for Policy and Practice (GRIPP) actively supports the IAH MAR Commission and its long-term work on MAR. It has developed a site specifically focusing on Groundwater-based Natural Infrastructure, which looks at using groundwater and the subsurface to store and detain water, and to improve and enhance water quality and ecosystem services.

This major initiative with multiple partners picks up from the global Groundwater Governance Program to see implementation of policies and policy reform in managing systems with incipient or unsustainable groundwater use, particularly for agriculture. The MAR Commission has fostered IAH’s partnership within this initiative as MAR is an essential element within GRIPP.  For more information on objectives, activities and participation, see the GRIPP web site.

In August 2018 GRIPP produced a web site on Groundwater Based Natural Infrastructure (GBNI) containing 18 brief articles on use of aquifers for water storage, detention, water quality improvement and environmental services. Most of these articles focus on different specific  MAR techniques in a variety of hydrogeological settings. This site and its parent site contained most of the resource material for a GBNI workshop held in Stockholm during  International Water Week 2018, led by Karen Villholth.

In January 2019, UNESCO agreed to produce a booklet on Exemplary MAR case studies, through the combined efforts of  the  Working Groups on MAR for Sustainable Development, and on the Economics of MAR, and GRIPP and IGRAC.