Jean Margat is a hydrogeologist. After fifteen years at the Service Géologique of Morocco, at the beginning of his career, he moved over to the Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM) at Orléans, France, for nearly another twenty five years. There he initiated, carried out and—in a later stage—supervised groundwater investigations. During that period he was also Director General’s personal advisor on water resources. His professional experience took him to many areas in France and abroad, first and for all in arid regions, particularly in Africa and the Middle East. In addition to his professional activities at BRGM, Jean Margat has been Vice-President of the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH) and President of the French national chapter of the Association. Currently, he is Vice-President of the Association du Plan Blue and is frequently consulted as an expert by international organisations such as FAO, UNESCO, World Bank and UNDP. He is the author of a large number of publications related to water resources assessment and management, mapping, water resources terminology and water economics. In 2008, he received the International Hydrology Prize of the IASH, UNESCO and WMO. Jac van der Gun is groundwater hydrologist. One year with a water supply company in The Netherlands was followed by four years of employment by UNDTCD in water resources assessment activities in Bolivia. Then he joined the Institute of Applied Geoscience of the R&D organisation TNO (Applied Scientific Research) in The Netherlands, where he remained employed until retirement. At TNO, Jac van der Gun participated and took responsibility for the Groundwater Reconnaissance of The Netherlands. He became also involved in the international water resources assessment and management projects of the institute, such as water resources assessment projects in Yemen and Paraguay, and he carried out numerous short missions in Asia, Latin America, Africa and Europe for various international and national organisations, providing scientific-technical inputs, supervising projects, formulating projects and programmes, or evaluating these. Jac van der Gun was actively involved in establishing the International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre, of which he became the first director in 2003. Currently, he is still active in several groundwater related projects of international organisations, mostly as a consultant to UNESCO or to UNESCO-IGRAC.

What most groundwater books lack, this one does not; it brings together society, policy making, health care, ecology and the management of natural resources [...] Van der Gun is one of the few with the knowhow and the capacity of transferring his knowledge and experience to a broad, engaged audience. [...] Groundwater around the World cannot be missing from any hydrological bookshelf.-Michael van der Valk, Stromingen 23, issue 3, 2015, pp. 3-5… a data-rich compilation of groundwater information useful to anyone interested in groundwater resource issues. … useful to readers who are interested in a general overview of global hydrogeology; it is also a good starting point for those interested in specific regions. … Highly recommended.—T J Kroeger, Bemidji State UniversityThis extremely well-illustrated book provides a valuable resource and unique perspective through collation of considerable datasets, maps, tables and reference material to help gain a quantified and qualified understanding of groundwater resources at the macro-scale. This book has a broad appeal; and has particular value as a textbook for geographers, and water resources and environmental managers. It also should gain the attention of strategic planners and policy-makers. It makes a good read for hydrogeologists, and those interested in environmentally sustainable socio-economic development. Governmental and nongovernmental agencies and advisors involved with the political and socio-economic aspects of trans-boundary and macro-scale resource development would also benefit from the purchase of this book. Trevor Muten, Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, Vol. 47, 2014, pp. 189-193 Groundwater around the World fillsa real niche in texts on groundwater and aquifers. Most texts on groundwater follow a tradition of describing the history of hydrogeology or groundwater hydrology with the evolution of the many equations used in the groundwater toolbox. But the transdisciplinary nature of water resources management dictates a new genre of texts that focus on global issues first. [...] So if the reader is a faculty member searching for a good textbook for an upper level undergraduate level course on the Geography of Groundwater, or a book to complement the many summaries of the world’s water that give short shrift to groundwater, then look no further. If the reader is a practitioner searching for a book to help plan their next international trip and want to know something about a country’s groundwater resources before departing, then Groundwater around the World: A Geographic Synopsis will serve as your underground travel guide.W. Todd Jarvis, Interim Director, Institute for Water and Watersheds, and Assistant Professor in College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, USAThe book has been written in very clear language and it will help non-hydrogeologists understand the complexities of aquifer systems and groundwater resource management and protection. It has been produced to a very high standard and illustrated by over 100 well-drawn figures most of which are in colour and some 36 tables that summarize data. The authors also use a total of 23 text boxes to explain in detail various technical and scientific concepts outside the flow of the main text such as explaining what constitutes an aquifer system and the relationship between groundwater and surface water. The book also contains a long list of references at the end of each chapter and a well-structured index that, together with the data contained in the appendices, will make it a valuable research resource.The authors have certainly met the objective of summarizing groundwater conditions on a worldwide basis for the international decision makers and it is hoped that it will make a valuable contribution to enabling individual states to cooperate in the management and sharing of groundwater resources without a recourse to war.Rick Brassington, Newcastle University, in Hydrogeology Journal, online 21 February 2014, DOI 10.1007/s10040-014-1109-1

• 1. Introduction 2. Groundwater in the Global Water Cycle 3.Geography of the World's Groundwater Systems 4. Groundwater Resources 5. Groundwater Withdrawal and Use 6. Growing Needs for Groundwater Resources Management Interventions 7. Groundwater Resources Management 8. Final Comments Appendices