160° w. G.

140° 120° 100°

Groundwater Resources of the World 80° 60° 40° 20° 0° 20° 40° 60° 80° 100° 120° 140° 160° e. G. 180°

80° 80°

Thule

Lapt ev S ea
Kara Sea
Barents Sea Pyasin
Lake Taymyr

Baffin a East Siberian Sea

Bay
Yenis
ey
Murmansk Norilsk
Tu lom a Ko O l enek
tu y
Ka lix ae
l ve
n Ind
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pi ne Arctic Circle Lu
l mijoki Le
igi
rka
Po Ke na

e
Ya
a Ko
Yukon B ac k P ec ho r na
ly m Om An
Yu kon A ng
e rm a olo
n
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Great Bear Lake elon Godthab Reykjavik elfu z y ay a
S tewa rt Th O Tung us k a
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o kw i m za
n Se Vily
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v. D
vin Ob
an
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Podk Yakutsk
Yukon ke
n am e
nn a
z

Gl
Anchorage ya

ie

om
va Tung
Great Slave Lake Ne I uska
Hudson L ena

a
Thl ewi az a Helsinki Yen

r ty
Oslo ise

sh
Lake Ladoga
60° Lia r 60°

y
d Vänern Ob
Saint Petersburg
Juneau
Churchill Bay Stockholm
Tallinn Lake Rybinsk Angar a Magadan
Lake Althabasca

O
Lake Peipus
Baltic

le
m

k
a
Beri n g Vättern Vol ga Chuly m
Perm Yekaterinburg B er i n g S e a

l
Riga

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ga
Vol
Sea Gu lf ce Nor th Nizhniy Novgorod K am ch atk a
Pe a Sea

a
Copenhagen Moscow Kazan Kama A

sc
on Dau

Vi
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Lena
m
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a
g
of Ala ska

ti
ng
av Chelyabinsk

ab
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Sea Ufa Omsk

ara
Ath
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ka Lake Kuybyshev

l La k e
rn Minsk
Edmonton S e ve Grande Riviere
ewan Dublin Hamburg Samara Ob
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yk a
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Irkutsk
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London Rotterdam in be Berlin Vo Is h
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r
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Calgary Astana y

e
A

ur
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Am
Brussels Od
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sk Lake Nipigon

ra
Sa Winnipeg
bia Lille ng
a
le

Colum

Rh in e
Don
Se

Ma
Vancouver Sei
n Prague Kharkiv Argu n
Paris

as
On

e
be Dnis t er Volgograd on A
Lake Superior nu Munich Vienna
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m
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ur
Seattle ur i Loir Dnipropetrovs'k Khabarovsk
s so Budapest
Mi

e
d
Vo

Pr
Ulaanbaatar

o
Quebec

Re
ne lga

ut
to

pr
ws Lake Balqash
llo Chisinau Dni
Ye Sava Rostov-na-Donu Astrakhan
lum bia Ottawa
D r av
a Harbin
Co Lake Huron Odesa

Us
an
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su
ak re S hu Ili

Rh one
Portland aw Aral Sea
Sn

ri
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St

Ca
Minneapolis Lake Michigan Toronto Halifax Belgrade
Da Urumqi Changchun
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S Xiliao He

sp
Almaty Jilin Sapporo

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Milwaukee

Da
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n
Eb T'bilisi
pi Providence r o Issyk Kul Shenyang
sip Do ur o Tashkent

Se
tt e si s Chicago Rome Istanbul
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s
Cleveland

Mi
Pittsburgh Madrid Barcelona Huludao

a
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to
Columbus Naples Ankara Yerevan Sea of

am en
New York Kur a t
40° en Indianapolis T aj o ak hra tes an Tangshan 40°
Baltimore ilim Eup Baku Yar
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Denver Bursa

Gr
Philadelphia Pyongyang

K iz
Sacr
Kansas City r az

A
Sacramento St. Louis Washington D.C. G uad ia
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San Francisco

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San Jose lora Shijiazhuang Linyi

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Athens
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Las Vegas Taian Tokyo
Memphis Aleppo Ulsan Nagoya
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p
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San Diego Dallas Atlanta Tripoli Damascus Baghdad k Rawalpindi Fuyang

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gr
Alexandria Faisalabad Amritsar an

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Jerusalem g

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Austin b Wuhan Suzhou

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Houston Multan Ludhiana Ningbo East

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New Orleans S B r ahm ap utr a

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Cairo
Kuwait Delhi Chongqing

qu i

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Tindouf Kathmandu

an
ga

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Ch
Changsha

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Wu

Indu
Agra

Br av o
Torreon Jaipur Lucknow
G ha Thimphu
l
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in
Murzuq ba Patna

w
Kanpur Allahabad Guiyang Fuzhou

nd
am
Doha Dubai Kunming Taipei
Miami

C hi
Ch
Monterrey

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Riyadh Aurangabad

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Hyderabad Putian
Gulf of Mexico Abu Dhabi Varanasi

ng
Ga n
Karachi

Ho
ge T'aichung

sh u
Aswan Dhanbad s Dhaka

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Tropic of Cancer Muscat Tropic of Cancer

i
Havana Ahmadabad Bhopal Asansol
Indore Jabalpur Khulna Guangzhou
Lake Nasser ada Shantou Kaoshsiung

M
rm

ek
Tamanrasset Na Jamshedpur Chittagong

on
Vadodara Nanning
Kolkata

g
Honolulu Jeddah Mecca Hong Kong
Leon Nagpur Hanoi
Ma

Ay ey
h ana
Guadalajara Merida Surat di
Haiphong
20° 20°

arwa
Toluca G od

n
av a

Sal wee
Puebla

R
r

dy
Mumbai i
Port-au-Prince San Juan Pune

ed
Mexico City
a
Nouakchott
alv Hyderabad
Santo Domingo

Gris

Nile
Bhi Vishakhapatnam

Chao
Vientiane

S
ma Yangon
Belmopan Kr ish Kr is hna

At
Seneg

ea
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ba

P hr ay a
Timbuktu Vijayawada

A T L A N T I C

ra
D allol B os s o
Khartoum Asmara

M
Bay

eko
Coc
o Dakar
A r ab i a n South

ng
Caribbean Sea Sana
Guatemala Tegucigalpa
Ni g
er of Bengal Bangkok Manila
S ea
O C E A N

G
m Bangalore

a
San Salvador b ia Bamako Whi te
Niamey
Lake Chad Chennai

Volta
C au

W hi te Nil e
N'Djamena Aden v ery
Kano

B lac k Vo lta
Managua Ouagadougou
Blu Lake Tana
Barranquilla i e Coimbatore Phnom Penh China

Ot
Maracaibo Maracay Caracas Kaduna

Nile
Madurai

C
Ho Chi Minh City

ha
Panama City

ri
Barquisimeto Valencia Nig Addis Ababa
San Jose Conakry er

e
a

Com o
Bandam
o
i noc e
Or nu
Be
Lake
Ibadan Sea Davao
Bucaramanga Georgetown W Colombo
Kumasi Volta

hi
Medellin Benin City

te
Car o ni
Paramaribo

Ni le
P A C I F I C

Ess equibo
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Monrovia Lomé Lagos

W
Cayenne Ou

eb
M
Bogota Accra ga ba

i
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Sha
ng
Abidjan Douala Sa ui

be
Yaounde Bangui Medan
Cali

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a
Lake Kuala Lumpur

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Orin Turkana

d al
G uav iar e

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Webi
Ma
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Mogadishu

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Lake Singapore

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Su
Kisangani Albert n
of G ui n e a

as
Libreville

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Kampala

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Equator Quito i K ap Equator

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0° O gooue n ga Mah ak am 0°
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Ca Neg
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Co
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Belem tan

ngo
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zonas Kigali
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P utum a Lake

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Manaus

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Toc an ti n s
Guayaquil

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Iquitos Fortaleza Palembang

Par naiba
Brazzaville Sep
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a n on
M ar
Kinshasa Makassar
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aj
Tanganyika

p
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To can tin s
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Ar
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I N D I A N
Cuanz a Lake Mweru Honiara

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Xing
Maceio
Lake Malawi
Lubumbashi
Lima Campinas
Darwin

B en i
Gua p
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J ur uenda
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en
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Lu g
Salvador Lilongwe

Ma
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F r an
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mor e
Lusaka

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Cuiaba ire
Za mbez i

an

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Brasilia Mit

do
ch
Lake La Paz ell
Goiania

Za
Titicaca
Cairns
Cunen

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be

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Santa Cruz de La Sierra

e
O C E A N

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Harare

V ic
Ok av a ng o Lake Kariba
ba
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P ar Antananarivo Suva

F li
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nd
20° er 20°

co
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Belo Horizonte Vitoria

Pa ra guay
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Fo r
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cu
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Windhoek Noumea

Li
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mp
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Tropic of Capricorn Sao Paulo hb Alice Springs tz
r Tropic of Capricorn

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Antofagasta

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Rio de Janeiro ur
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Gasc o ne
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Cr
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Johannesburg a

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Wa
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Sal

ur

Cop
Par ana m
Brisbane

ia
ado
l

D
aa

y
ua

V
ug
ne
lon

Ur
Orange
Maseru Ba

nge
Porto Alegre
O C E A N Lake Eyre

Ora
De
sa
gu Durban
Cordoba
ad
ero

Perth
ing

l
Da r
Rosario
Santiago Para

O C E A N
na n
Cape Town hla
ac

L
Buenos Aires Sydney
Adelaide
Montevideo Mur ray Canberra
Auckland
Melbourne

C ol
o ra
do Tasman Sea
Ne
40° gr
o 40°

Ch
ub
u

Hobart Christchurch
t

t ha
C lu
Ushuaia

S c o t ia S e a
60° 60°

Antarctic Circle Antarctic Circle

We d de l l S ea

80° 80°

Scale 1 : 25 000 000 © BGR Hannover / UNESCO Paris 2008. All rights reserved.
Printed by: Oeding Druck GmbH, Braunschweig, Germany

Mean Annual Precipitation (1961 - 1990) Population Density (2000) WHYMAP and the Groundwater Resources Map of the World 1 : 25 000 000
150° w.G. 120° 90° 60° 30° 0° 30° 60° 90° 120° 150° e.G. 180° 150° w.G. 120° 90° 60° 30° 0° 30° 60° 90° 120° 150° e.G. 180°
Legend
Within the past decades the interest in groundwater has increased considerably due to water shortage problems on Groundwater resources frequently sustain important wetland ecosystems. Therefore, wetlands with a surface larger
local, regional and even global levels. In order to support the sustainable management of groundwater resources, it is than 500 hectares which are supposed to be groundwater related have been abstracted from the existing data base
necessary to map, model and quantify the stored volume and the average annual replenishment, and to determine listing wetlands according to the RAMSAR convention (www.wetlands.org/rsis).
the chemical quality of groundwater. Therefore, the World-wide Hydrogeological Mapping and Assessment Rising demands from population growth and food production are calling for a closer look at the use of groundwater. Groundwater resources and recharge (mm/year)
60° 60° 60° 60°

Programme (WHYMAP) was created in 1999 as a contribution to the world-wide efforts to improve the management Therefore, known areas of heavy groundwater abstraction prone to over-exploitation and areas of groundwater mining
very high high medium low very low
of the earth's water resources including groundwater. are mapped. Cities shown on the map (mostly those with a population estimated at more than 1 million inhabitants in 300 100 20 2 0
WHYMAP is a joint programme of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), 2005 according to the United Nations Department of Economics and Social Affairs) known to have at least 25 % of
the Commission for the Geological Map of the World (CGMW), the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH), the total water consumption supplied by groundwater have been identified by a special symbol. in major groundwater basins
the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Groundwater quality is an important issue for the use of groundwater such as drinking water supply and irrigated food
30° 30° 30° 30°
Resources (BGR). production. Areas where salinity of groundwater regionally exceeds 5 g/l are highlighted by orange hatching. in areas with
It aims at collecting, compiling and visualising hydrogeological information at a global scale, to convey groundwater complex hydrogeological structure
related information in an appropriate way for the global discussion on water issues and to give recognition to invisible The global Groundwater Resources Map contains only selected information related to groundwater. For reasons of
underground water resources. WHYMAP brings together the huge efforts in hydrogeological mapping, at regional, clarity and readability important complementary information has been deferred to a set of four insert maps at the in areas with local and shallow aquifers
national and continental levels. BGR, together with the partners above, is gradually building up a geographic scale of 1 : 120 000 000 (see left). These thematic maps highlight the issues of "Mean Annual Precipitation", "River
0° 0° 0° 0° information system (WHYMAP GIS) in which the groundwater data are managed and visualised. Basins and Mean Annual River Discharge", "Population Density" and "Groundwater Recharge per Capita".
Comparison between the main Groundwater Resources Map and the four thematic small-scale maps should help to
This Groundwater Resources Map of the World at the scale of 1 : 25 000 000 is a result of WHYMAP and combines understand the global picture of groundwater and surface water resources and provide insight into their pressures, in
the related data known or published so far. It shows various characteristic groundwater environments in their areal particular the priority use for drinking purposes. Essential geographic differences are revealed over the globe in the
extent: blue colour is used for large and rather uniform groundwater basins (aquifers and aquifer systems usually in distribution and amount of rainfall, the most important input factor for both, surface water flow and groundwater Special groundwater features
30° 30°
large sedimentary basins that may offer good conditions for groundwater exploitation), green colour areas have replenishment. The latter is mirrored in the main map by various colour shades. The rainfall map is based on data
30° 30°
complex hydrogeological structure (with highly productive aquifers in heterogeneous folded or faulted regions in close from the Global Precipitation and Climate Centre (GPCC) in Offenbach, Germany. To highlight the surface water
vicinity to non-aquifers), and brown colour symbolises regions with limited groundwater resources in local and shallow situation, a map of major active water basins (surface water catchment areas) has been provided by the Global Runoff
area of saline groundwater (> 5 g/l total dissolved solids (TDS))
aquifers. Data Centre (GRDC) in Koblenz, Germany. In addition, the surface water courses and lakes have been classified
Within the three main hydrogeological units up to five different categories are defined according to their modelled according to their mean annual discharge. This picture complements with the main map, particularly in the dry regions
recharge rates from over 300 mm to less than 2 mm per year. Dark colours (dark blue, green and brown) represent of the world, where no surface water is available but luckily some of the biggest aquifer systems are located.
60° 60° 60° 60°
areas with very high recharge rates while light blue, green and brown colours outline regions with very low recharge Population density also varies largely on earth and is a key factor for the broad variation of water demand on the natural groundwater discharge area in arid regions
Scale 1 : 120 000 000 Scale 1 : 120 000 000 potential. The latter category is vulnerable to groundwater mining. Groundwater recharge rates refer to the period continents. This information combined with the amount of groundwater recharge modelled by Doell et al. (2006)
1961 - 1990 and are derived from simulations with the global hydrological model WaterGAP, version 2.1f, provided by provides categories of mean annual groundwater recharge per capita. On this map, large countries have been
the University of Frankfurt/Main, Germany (Doell et al., 2006). subdivided into individual sub-regions or states, if this was appropriate or known, to highlight the regional variation. area of heavy groundwater abstraction with over-exploitation
Precipitation in mm/year Population in persons/km2 Sources:
Gridded Population of the World (GPW), Version 3 Aspects of hydrodynamic conditions are addressed by outlining areas of groundwater discharge in arid zones (e.g. Further information will be provided in a corresponding explanatory booklet to be published soon.
Source: Center for International Earth Science Information
Gridded Precipitation Normals Data Set, Network (CIESIN), Columbia University; endorheic basins or "chotts" and "sebkhas"). See also: www.whymap.org
Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC), United Nations Food and Agriculture Programme (FAO) &
0 10 50 100 200 500 1000 2500 no data Offenbach 2007 0 5 25 250 1000 no data Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT) 2005 area of groundwater mining

selected wetland, mostly groundwater related

River Basins and Mean Annual River Discharge (1961 - 1990) Groundwater Recharge (1961 - 1990) per Capita (2000)
150° 120° 90° 60° 30° 0° 30° 60° 90° 120° 150° 180° 150° 120° 90° 60° 30° 0° 30° 60° 90° 120° 150° e.G. 180°
Prepared by Topographic base map

Wilhelm Struckmeier and Andrea Richts (Chief Editors), CGMW / UNESCO (2000): Geological Map of the World 1 : 25 000 000, 2nd edition
Ian Acworth, Giuseppe Arduino, Emilia Bocanegra, Philip Commander, UN (2006): Cartographic Data Surface water Geography and Climate
60° 60° 60° 60°
William Cunningham, Petra Döll, Abdallah Droubi, Nelson da Franca, ESRI (2006): Data & Maps
Wilfried Gilbrich, Jan Girman, Jac van der Gun, Jean Margat, NASA / USGS (2006): Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM30) major river selected city
Dominique Poitrinal, Shaminder Puri, Alfonso Rivera, GRDC (2007): Rivers & Lakes
Mohamed Safar-Zitoun, Slavek Vasak, Jaroslav Vrba, Peter Winter,
selected city,
30° 30°
Markus Zaepke, Han Zaisheng and Igor Zektser modified by BGR (2007/2008) large freshwater lake partly dependent on groundwater
30° 30°

large saltwater lake country boundary

Under the auspices of Map projection

0° 0° 0° 0°
UNESCO / IHP Andras Szöllösi-Nagy and Alice Aureli Robinson projection, longitude of central meridian 11°E, continuous ice sheet boundary of continuous permafrost
UNESCO / IGCP Robert Missotten spheroid WGS84, geographic coordinates
BGR Hans-Joachim Kümpel and Wilhelm Struckmeier
CGMW Jean-Paul Cadet and Philippe Rossi
30° 30°
IAEA Pradeep Aggarwal and Andy Garner
30° 30°
Disclaimer
IAH Stephen Foster and Jiri Krasny
The designations employed and the presentation of material on this map do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever
GROUNDWATER RESOURCES OF THE WORLD 1 : 25 000 000
The WHYMAP initiative has been supported by the IHP Council on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations or the WHYMAP Consortium concerning the legal status of any country, territory,
city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. extracted from:
within the framework of the IHP VI programme (2002-2007).
60° 60°
This map was derived and compiled from disparate sources of information. The WHYMAP Consortium gives no warranty, expressed World-wide Hydrogeological Mapping and Assessment Programme (WHYMAP) www.whymap.org
60° 60°

3
or implied, to the quality or accuracy of the information supplied and accepts no liability whatsoever in respect of loss, damage,
Mean river discharge in km /year Scale 1 : 120 000 000 Scale 1 : 120 000 000 injury or other occurrences however caused.
0-5 500 - 800
Sources: Groundwater recharge in m3/person/year Cartographical editing / GIS The data and information on this map are protected under the copyright of Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (BGR)
5 - 10 800 - 1200 Basins selected, derived and adjusted by Sources:
Global Runoff Data Centre (GRDC), Koblenz 2007,
(aggregated for countries or subnational units) Mean groundwater recharge calculated with WaterGAP 2.1, and UNESCO. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means whatsoever or stored in a retrieval
10 - 50 1200 - 2000
based on HYDRO1K by USGS; Universities of Frankfurt/Main & Kassel 2007; system of any nature without the prior written permission of BGR and UNESCO.
50 - 100 2000 - 3000 Mean river discharge calculated with WaterGAP 2.1, country boundary Population data based on GPW - Version 3, BGR Uta Philipp, Andrea Richts
Universities of Frankfurt/Main and Kassel 2007; Center for International Earth Science Information Network
100 - 500 > 3000 major river basin land area with minor or inactive river basins Rivers and lakes by GRDC & WHYMAP 2007 0 250 500 1000 1500 3000 10000 no data (CIESIN) 2005