Mr Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO receives 'groundwater award'

In his acceptance speech, which was shown at the General assembly of the IAH on the 10th of September 2009 in Hyderabad, India, Mr Matsuura noted that groundwater resources were "key to finding sustainable solutions to water problems. Groundwater is the world's most extracted raw material and the most important and safest source of drinking water. Agriculture and particularly irrigation systems in many parts of the world (such as India, Northern Africa, and Western Asia) strongly depend on groundwater resources."

For more information:

http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=46331&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html