Sustainable Water Resource Management and Hydrogeology

Dear Colleagues, 

Groundwater is a major resource used for drinking water production or irrigation. Because it interacts with many components of the terrestrial water cycle (runoff from baseflow, evaporation from groundwater-fed surface waters, transpiration of root accessible groundwater) it needs to be included in the pursuit to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6 (“Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”). Because of the complex interactions between groundwater, vegetation, surface water and the anthropogenic water cycle, the term sustainable is not always understood in a uniform way in hydrogeology and numerous definitions exist on what could be considered sustainable and how it can be measured. Among the most prominent indicators to measure or identify sustainable groundwater use are groundwater age, environmental flow, water table changes or simple inflow-outflow-balance calculations. However, none of these measures provides a holistic view and a combination of two or more indicators is often advisable. 

But sustainability is not only all about quantity. Deterioration of groundwater quality renders some resources to be unfit for a certain purpose. For example, pollution with pathogens, metals, pesticides, or nitrates reduces the value of groundwater resources for drinking water production. Contaminated resources have to be cleaned in situ, abandoned, or the water abstracted has to be purified before use, which often requires time, money, and energy. 

Even in regions with comparably lower water scarcity like Central and Northern Europe, ongoing climate change, population changes and frequently occurring droughts will require a more sustainable management of groundwater resources in the future. 

This Special Issue aims to collect contributions on new methods to understand, measure, or model sustainable groundwater use. Management examples are also welcome, if they provide holistic insights that are transferable to aquifers in the world other than the one studied. Also welcome are contributions that further our understanding of how principles of sustainable groundwater use can be communicated between science, policy makers, and people to increase awareness and compliance with these principles. 

Dr. Thomas Riedel
Guest Editor

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• integrated water resources management;
• managed aquifer recharge;
• sustainable groundwater quality management;
• knowledge transfer;
• policy and public