Groundwater Management Practices

Groundwater is an indispensable resource in many parts of the world, where it supports domestic water supply, irrigated agriculture and industry. Its increased, and often intensive, use during the last half century has created problems and raised concerns regarding the potential depletion of local aquifers, water quality degradation and various geo

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.

Groundwater is an indispensable resource in many parts of the world, where it supports domestic water supply, irrigated agriculture and industry. Its increased, and often intensive, use during the last half century has created problems and raised concerns regarding the potential depletion of local aquifers, water quality degradation and various geologic hazards such as land subsidence and sinkholes. This volume includes contributions by experts from several countries who describe different groundwater management practices in their part of the world and discuss measures and actions in response to the challenges associated with the sustainability of groundwater use and the protection of the groundwater environment, as well as the evolution of legal and institutional framework needed for their implementation. It discusses past and present practices and various aspects of the regulatory and legal framework of groundwater management in Japan, China, India, Iran, Australia, the United States, Spain, Denmark, Switzerland and the European Union, and reviews recent efforts to improve the management of transboundary aquifer resources.

Part of Groundwater Set - Buy all six books and save over 30% on buying separately! This book reviews the state-of-the-art of groundwater management in large river basins, providing an innovative, informative and consistent approach with technical tools for planners, decision makers and engineers. Groundwater Management in Large River Basins provides comprehensive coverage of the basic elements of groundwater management in large river basins, including: Social, economic and legislative framework, goals, practices and possible tools Review of EU groundwater legislation and its implementation Natural groundwater occurrence and natural circumstances and processes Groundwater management and maintenance issues: Role of natural factors in groundwater management Different methods of groundwater abstraction and protection Groundwater treatment technologies Well ageing and maintenance Nitrate problems, etc. Groundwater modeling as a tool for groundwater assessment Aquifer restoration A spectrum of technical appendices for engineers, which address groundwater issues Also included will be appendices intended to support the work of groundwater engineers. This book will be of interest to groundwater engineers and planners, as well as lecturers and postgraduate and postdoctoral students.

One of the greatest conundrums facing the arid western United States is the availability, use, and quality of groundwater. In large sections of the West, groundwater is the only dependable source of water for agricultural production and home consumption. Yet many of the aquifers are being depleted at a rate that will suck them dry within a century. Furthermore, dependence upon groundwater in many areas will only increase in the future. This dependence is already having serious consequences for small towns on the Great Plains. Faced with growing costs associated with deeper wells and the need for ever more advanced technology for extracting water, these towns find they lack the resources to maintain current agricultural practices. ø In this timely assessment of the West?s groundwater resources, the authors provide a detailed overview of groundwater management in the Western states. The authors present for each state the various management strategies, laws, and political realities that have made groundwater appropriation such a volatile subject. They also suggest possible difficulties that states and regions might face under current groundwater policies. By examining separate cases and viewing the West as a whole, the authors are able to identify not only the most pressing problems but also the most appropriate management techniques for protecting water supplies for future use.

This book addresses groundwater governance, a subject internationally recognized as crucial and topical for enhancing and safeguarding the benefits of groundwater and groundwater-dependent ecosystems to humanity, while ensuring water and food security under global change. The multiple and complex dimensions of groundwater governance are captured in 28 chapters, written by a team of leading experts from different parts of the world and with a variety of relevant professional backgrounds. The book aims to describe the state-of-the-art and latest developments regarding each of the themes addressed, paying attention to the wide variation of conditions observed around the globe. The book consists of four parts. The first part sets the stage by defining groundwater governance, exploring its emergence and evolution, framing it through a socio-ecological lens and describing groundwater policy and planning approaches. The second part discusses selected key aspects of groundwater governance. The third part zooms in on the increasingly important linkages between groundwater and other resources or sectors, and between local groundwater systems and phenomena or actions at the international or even global level. The fourth part, finally, presents a number of interesting case studies that illustrate contemporary practice in groundwater governance. In one volume, this highly accessible text not only familiarizes water professionals, decision-makers and local stakeholders with groundwater governance, but also provides them with ideas and inspiration for improving groundwater governance in their own environment.

Contamination of groundwater sources is a global phenomenon and it is becoming evident that unregulated human activity will lead to further deterioration of the resource in many countries of the world. There is therefore an increasing need for research and informed policies to strategically manage groundwater along with other natural resources. This book has been structured into ten chapters, including an introductory background and contextual material for its contributions, with case studies from US, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Serbia, India, Malaysia, Netherlands, and South Africa. Contributions in this book range from hydrogeochemical investigations and evaluation of groundwater usability for water supply as well as for agricultural purposes to groundwater quality descriptions and characterisation. Issues on groundwater overdevelopment and the consequent quality degradation; flow and recharge processes with management implications; groundwater dependent ecosystems and ecological implications are well covered in its content. A number of simulation variants from numerical modelling to characterise groundwater conditions and estimate groundwater resources potential in large basins are presented to support technical decisions and policy making. The prospects and problems of groundwater development are addressed in this book and novel bioremediation technology with more than 10 years of successful application in remediating groundwater contaminated with chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbons (CAHs) concludes the content. This book will be useful to all within the groundwater community, researchers and policy makers alike.

If water resources are to be distributed efficiently, equitably and cost-effectively in this rapidly changing world, then it is clear that current water management practices are no longer feasible. Innovative approaches are required to meet the increasing water demands of a growing world population and economy and the needs of the ecosystems supporting them. New approaches have to be employed at global, national and local levels. In Rethinking Water Management, a new generation of water experts from around the world examine the critical challenges confronting the water profession, including rainwater and groundwater management, recycling and reuse, water rights, transboundary access to water and financing of water. They offer important new perspectives on the use, management and conservation of fresh water, in terms of both quantity and quality, for the domestic, agricultural and industrial sectors, and show how a new set of paradigms can be applied to successfully manage water for the future. Caroline Figueres is Head of the Urban Infrastructure Department at UNESCO-IHE Water Education Institute in The Netherlands.Cecilia Tortajada is Vice President of the Third World Centre for Water Management in Mexico and Vice President-elect of the International Water Resources Association. Johan Rockstr'm is Water Resources Expert at UNESCO-IHE.