THE GROUNDWATER PROJECT: TOWARDS GROUNDWATER AWARENESS AND UNDERSTANDING

The GW-P is a charitable NGO initiated in Canada in 2017 that produces free online books of actionable groundwater knowledge. Books, each generally 75-150 pages, can be downloaded at no cost from gw-project.org. The GW-P is a philanthropic innovation involving more than 1000 volunteers from 28 countries who create, review, edit and translate the books.

While published groundwater science has grown manyfold in the past half century, nearly all is in referred journals of the commercial publishing industry. This provides orderly advancement of science through narrow niche readerships. However, for knowledge to be actionable, this published but disparate knowledge and experience must be synthesized for accessibility to serve societal needs. GW-P books present synthesized knowledge, understandable and actionable by a diversity of readers. This expert synthesis is aimed at clarity with rigor to achieve simplicity on the other side of complexity.

Groundwater systems are three-dimensional in space and vary in time. Hence, for development of understanding, GW-P books put emphasis on figures to carry the logic and promote 4-D conceptualizing. This is a recognized challenge in geoscience education. The GW-P is evolving an effective approach that includes an abundance of figures, simulations and videos to bring clarity to what has been discovered by research and experience. Each book undergoes an intensive, collaborative peer review to overcome difficulties in synthesis for visual learning.

Groundwater makes up 99% of all liquid freshwater, which continually interacts with streams, rivers, lakes and wetlands. The GW-Project publishes books relevant to these interactions and to interfaces with disciplines including agriculture, ecology, economics, law, sociology and political science. The first book went online in August 2020 and since then 25 books have been published as of July 2022, 30 are in review, 130 in progress, and many more planned. Full-book PDF downloads are approaching 100,000 across 171 countries. The GW-P has completed its proof-of-concept phase and its vision is expanding to include more books aimed at pre-university students and the general public, and experiential learning modules while we are seeking more participants and partnerships.