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Unfortunately this problem is becoming more common around the world due to increases in demand for water from rapidly increasing populations, drier weather patterns and the increased use of water as poorer nations develop. Underground water resources are found in water bearing rocks known as aquifers that have taken many hundreds or even thousands of years to accumulate, so once they have become depleted due to over-abstraction they will not recover unless the demand is reduced to a level that is below the natural recharge rate from rainfall, lakes and rivers on the surface. In coastal areas over-abstraction of fresh groundwater can result in salty (saline) sea water being drawn into the aquifers that renders them unusable for human consumption, without expensive treatment.

Our response can be as you state using alternative appropriate technologies from surface resources. Groundwater levels will only recover if the demand from boreholes and wells is reduced to below the recovery rate of the aquifer. This will have an impact on the communities using the boreholes and wells, so they must find alternative sources of water either from lakes, rivers and streams or by rainwater harvesting. It is also possible in some areas to increase the rate of aquifer recovery by a process known as ‘groundwater recharge’. This can be achieved in conjunction with a rainwater harvesting system and we have produced a paper on this work that can be downloaded from our website by following this link:- https://www.wateraid.org/uk/~/media/Publications/rainwater-harvesting-recharging-shallow-groundwater.pdf.
Regards, Frank Lawson (no relation to Anne!) Engineering Adviser, WaterAid