Groundwater Development And Management

This book deals with the challenges for efficient groundwater management, with a focus on South Asia and India, providing a balanced presentation of theory and field practice using a multidisciplinary approach. Groundwater of South Asia is increasingly confronted with overuse and deteriorating quality and therefore requires urgent attention. Management of the stressed groundwater systems is an extremely complex proposition because of the intricate hydrogeological set-up of the region. Strategies for sustainable management must involve a combination of supply-side and demand-side measures depending on the regional setting and socio-economic situations. As a consequence, the challenges of efficient groundwater management require not only a clear understanding of the aquifer configuration, but also demand for the development of a comprehensive database of the groundwater occurrences and flow systems in each hydrogeological setting. In addition, drilling and well construction methods that are appropriate to different hydrogeological formations need to be implemented as well as real-time monitoring of the status of the groundwater use. Also corrective measures for groundwater that is threatened with depletion and quality deterioration need to be installed. Finally, the legal framework of groundwater needs to be rearticulated according to the common property aspect of groundwater. These challenges should revolve around effective groundwater governance by creating an atmosphere to support and empower community-based systems of decision-making and revisit the existing legal framework and groundwater management institutions by fostering community initiatives. This book is relevant for academics, professionals, administrators, policy makers, and economists concerned with various aspects of groundwater science and management.

Groundwater Resource Development describes the basic steps involved in the development of a groundwater resource in the search for productive aquifers. This book discusses groundwater exploration, construction and testing of water wells, water quality and pollution considerations, and groundwater management. This text is comprised of 10 chapters and begins by presenting the steps in the evaluation, development, and management of an aquifer for water supply. The reader is then introduced to the fundamentals of groundwater, with emphasis on their origin and occurrence as well as the influence of porosity and permeability on groundwater accumulation, migration, and distribution. The chapters that follow focus on groundwater exploration, assessment of aquifer recharge and potential well yield, and factors affecting the quality of groundwater. The issues to be considered in well design and construction are also highlighted, along with aquifer hydraulics and pumping tests, groundwater pollution, and optimum management of groundwater resources. This text concludes with a chapter on techniques used in modeling the response of a groundwater reservoir. This book will be of value to geologists, civil engineers, environmental scientists, mathematicians, chemists, water well contractors, and others involved in the profession of water engineering.

The aim of this book is to document for the first time the dimensions and requirements of effective integrated groundwater management (IGM). Groundwater management is a formidable challenge, one that remains one of humanity’s foremost priorities. It has become a largely non-renewable resource that is overexploited in many parts of the world. In the 21st century, the issue moves from how to simply obtain the water we need to how we manage it sustainably for future generations, future economies, and future ecosystems. The focus then becomes one of understanding the drivers and current state of the groundwater resource, and restoring equilibrium to at-risk aquifers. Many interrelated dimensions, however, come to bear when trying to manage groundwater effectively. An integrated approach to groundwater necessarily involves many factors beyond the aquifer itself, such as surface water, water use, water quality, and ecohydrology. Moreover, the science by itself can only define the fundamental bounds of what is possible; effective IGM must also engage the wider community of stakeholders to develop and support policy and other socioeconomic tools needed to realize effective IGM. In order to demonstrate IGM, this book covers theory and principles, embracing: 1) an overview of the dimensions and requirements of groundwater management from an international perspective; 2) the scale of groundwater issues internationally and its links with other sectors, principally energy and climate change; 3) groundwater governance with regard to principles, instruments and institutions available for IGM; 4) biophysical constraints and the capacity and role of hydroecological and hydrogeological science including water quality concerns; and 5) necessary tools including models, data infrastructures, decision support systems and the management of uncertainty. Examples of effective, and failed, IGM are given. Throughout, the importance of the socioeconomic context that connects all effective IGM is emphasized. Taken as a whole, this work relates the many facets of effective IGM, from the catchment to global perspective.

Ground water resources are receiving global attention, as human population growth and development cause significant changes to the earth system. It plays a major role in ensuring livelihood security in many parts of South Asia and its contribution to poverty alleviation is substantial. The complex nature of ground water problems in the Indian Sub-continent requires a precise delineation of the ground water regimes in different hydro geological settings and socio-economic conditions and is a primary necessity for sustainable and equitable management. Strategies to respond to ground water over-exploitation and deteriorating water quality must be based on a new approach. Practical policies and various solution options urgently need to be formulated and implemented to prevent the development problems. There is pressing need to evolve workable methods and approaches based on modern scientific researches on ground water resources, as well as to build a social framework including community participation at all levels for a ground water development system. The community participation in water pumping policies, incentives of efficient use, affordability of low income users and other vulnerable groups, water awareness are prime factors for success of any ground water based water supply project.

A comprehensive, self-sufficient and up-to-date text providing complete information on various aspects of groundwater assessment, development and management. It gives a balanced presentation of theory and field practice using a multidisciplinary approach to aid in solving problems from a variety of data bases. The coverage in this book includes: Aquifer tests and evaluation of aquifer properties Stream gauging and measurement of discharge and stage of wells Ground water exploration Geomorphic and geologic control on ground water Estimation of individual components of ground water recharge, discharge and ground water balance Ground water development and management. The book contains a large number of figures, examples of complex interpretative techniques and methodologies, case histories, and problems along with answers. With its integrated, multidisciplinary approach, the book would serve as a valuable reference book to hydrogeologists, geologists, geophysicists, hydrologists, hydrometerologists, and irrigation, agricultural and drilling engineers, as well as those concerned with planning and decision making. Researchers and students would also find this an indispensable text.

Increasing demand for water, higher standards of living, depletion of resources of acceptable quality, and excessive water pollution due to urban, agricultural, and industrial expansions have caused intense environmental, social, economic, and political predicaments. More frequent and severe floods and droughts have changed the ability and resiliency of water infrastructure systems to operate and provide services to the public. These concerns and issues have also changed the way we plan and manage our surface and groundwater resources. Groundwater Hydrology: Engineering, Planning, and Management presents a compilation of the state-of-the-art subjects and techniques in the education and practice of groundwater and describes them in a systematic and integrated fashion useful for undergraduate and graduate students and practitioners. The book develops a system view of groundwater fundamentals and model-making techniques through the application of science, engineering, planning, and management principles. It discusses the classical issues in groundwater hydrology and hydraulics followed by coverage of water quality issues. The authors delineate the process of analyzing data, identification, and parameter estimation; tools and model-building techniques and the conjunctive use of surface and groundwater techniques; aquifer restoration, remediation, and monitoring techniques; and analysis of risk. They touch on groundwater risk and disaster management and then explore the impact of climate change on groundwater and discuss the tools needed for analyzing future data realization and downscaling large-scale low-resolution data to local watershed and aquifer scales for impact studies. The combined coverage of engineering and planning tools and techniques as well as specific challenges for restoration and remediation of polluted aquifers sets this book apart. It also introduces basic tools and techniques for making decisions about and planning for future groundwater development activities, taking into account regional sustainability issues. An examination of the interface between groundwater challenges, the book demonstrates how to apply systems analysis techniques to groundwater engineering, planning, and management.

This book describes and analyses the diversity of possible approaches and policy pathways to implement sustainable groundwater development, based on a comparative analysis of numerous quantitative management case studies from France and Australia. This unique book brings together water professionals and academics involved for several decades in groundwater policy making, planning or operational management to reflect on their experience with developing and implementing groundwater management policy. The data and analysis presented accordingly makes a significant contribution to the empirical water management literature by providing novel, real world insights unpublished elsewhere. The originality of the contributions also lies in the different disciplinary perspectives (hydrogeology, economics, planning and social sciences in particular) adopted in many chapters. The book offers a unique comparative analysis of France, Australia and experiences in countries such as Chile and the US to identify similarities, but also fundamental differences, which are analysed and presented as alternative policy options – these differences being mainly related to the role of the state, the community and market mechanisms in groundwater management.