The registering and/or licensing of groundwater abstraction is held as a “best practice” in the control of groundwater use and a necessary step toward volumetric management of resources. Yet, groundwater licensing and legalization processes in areas with many scattered (often agricultural) users tend to face severe difficulties and are rarely successful. Based on a global survey on groundwater governance, this article revisits the reasons for the users’ lack of interest, the failure of most legalization/licensing processes, and the frequent lack of both capacity and the political will of government agencies in conducting such processes. It identifies a groundwater licensing dilemma that explains why governments deploy too little effort too late, and finally proposes a few steps and principles to be considered when deciding whether licensing is achievable and how to increase the likelihood of success.

地下水抽取的注册和/或许可被视为控制地下水使用的“最佳实践”，是朝着资源量管理的必要步骤。然而，在许多分散的用户（通常是农业用户）的地区，地下水许可和合法化过程往往面临严重的困难，而且很少成功。基于对地下水治理的全球调查，本文回顾了用户缺乏兴趣的原因，大多数合法化/许可流程的失败以及政府机构在进行此类流程时经常缺乏能力和政治意愿。它确定了地下水许可的困境，这解释了为什么政府在事后部署太少的努力，