Groundwater Resources Management: Reconciling Demand, High Quality Resources and Sustainability
A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Water Resources Management, Policy and Governance".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2022) | Viewed by 64381
Special Issue Editors
Interests: groundwater management; seawater intrusion; groundwater monitoring
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: groundwater management; water quality; seawater intrusion; simulation of water flow; aquifer vulnerability
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The prospect of a word population of 9 billion by 2050, growing urbanisation, intensive irrigated agriculture and climate change will add extra pressures on the water resources and the environment. The availability of high-quality freshwater is a decisive factor for socio-economic development. Water scarcity occurs in many countries—particularly in the Mediterranean, Middle East, Africa, etc.—that are confronted with a crucial combination of a severe lack of and increasing demand for high-quality water. World water resources seem abundant; however, only 0.7% of this total amount is usable water. Serious water pollution problems make 1/5 of the world’s population (approximately 1.1 billion people) at risk of water-related diseases. Competition for water made scarce by intensive irrigation is already a major source of conflict in arid and semiarid areas.
Groundwater is worldwide the main source of domestic supply and irrigation. As a result, there is a widespread established negative water balance, which is highly problematic in the case of coastal aquifer systems which are at risk of salinification due to seawater intrusion.
Pressures on groundwater arise from pollution sources; this is a serious problem due to the use of chemicals in agriculture as well as to the increasing inflows of domestic and industrial wastewater into water bodies that are hydraulically connected with aquifers. Intensified fertilization has led to considerable groundwater quality deterioration, as evidenced by the increased nitrate concentration.
On the other hand, the coastal environment is now recognized as a crucial arena for future progress towards sustainability around the world. Approximately 70% of the population on earth lives in coastal areas and the majority of these people depend on coastal aquifers for freshwater. Many islands face problems with water. The water demands of these islands have increased during the last decades due to rapid urbanization, accelerated tourism development, agricultural activities and a continuous increase in population since the 1970s. As a result, a negative water balance has been established in coastal aquifer systems, triggering sea water intrusion, which has negative consequences in the socioeconomic development of these areas. Many coastal aquifer systems are reported to be affected by quality deterioration due to seawater intrusion and irrational management.
In this framework, the challenge is reconciling demand satisfaction and durable quality and quality sustainability of resources. This Special Issue of Water accepts the challenge, calling for any contribution on the previous subjects, including any useful innovative scientific activities. A non-exhaustive list of desired contributions includes: tools, equipment, methods, modelling, and/or experiences on hydrogeological, geophysical, geochemical mapping and aquifer characterization, including an assessment of climate change impacts on groundwater resources in terms of groundwater resource quantity and quality and/or dependent ecosystem status; tools for efficient online visualization and dissemination; risk and vulnerability assessment methods; and monitoring experiences, especially if linked to management approaches. All contributions must share the aim of contributing to success in the challenge presented by water scarcity.
Dr. Maurizio Polemio
Prof. Konstantinos Voudouris
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- groundwater resource management
- quantity degradation
- quality degradation
- pollution
- coastal aquifer
- climate change
- modelling
- monitoring
- salinization
- water resources
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