IAH - Selected Papers on Hydrogeology – serie

This volume presents the contemporary issues surrounding groundwater pollution risk assessment and the application of vulnerability and risk assessment maps for the effective protection and management of aquifers. Numerous new and improved approaches to intrinsic and specific vulnerability assessment (modified DRASTIC, GOD, VULK, VURAAS) are described, some coupled with geophysical and hydrological surveys and hydrodynamic and transport modelling. Widespread use is made of GIS format.

This volume offers detailed comparisons and validations of different methods of assessing groundwater vulnerability (DRASTIC, GOD, PI, RTt, AVI, SINTACS, COP). It contains new aspects of vulnerability assessment for the evaluation of coastal aquifer vulnerability and aquifer vulnerability to methane gas leakage from shale gas wells. The book also contains the results of studies on intrinsic and specific vulnerability assessment (migration of antibiotics and nitrate, groundwatersurface water interaction), with examples of the different national approaches to groundwater vulnerability mapping in Poland, Ireland, Italy and elsewhere. There are 15 chapters derived from two IAH conferences held in Ustron´, Poland in 2015 and 2018.The book is valuable for those interested in groundwater vulnerability, in risk assessment, and in environmental issues. It is aimed at land use planners, water managers, the environmental industry, regional and local environmental protection councils and students studying hydrogeology and environmental sciences.

Groundwater is integral to many human and environmental systems but there are significant challenges in dealing with the impact of anthropogenic activities on groundwater systems. These challenges need innovative solutions. This book contains a wide range of content, from a discussion of the Australian regulatory framework for unconventional hydrocarbons, the extraction of which have the potential to significantly impact groundwater systems, to the best way to apply numerical models to help solve complex, real world problems. The impact of urbanisation on groundwater systems in the developing world is also discussed, at both a local scale in Nigeria and at a world scale. The use of innovative tools such as managed aquifer recharge, a critical tool in solving the groundwater challenges of the 21st century, is also discussed. The framework used to manage the legacy of agricultural contamination in Denmark, covering investigation to regulation and remediation, is also presented, focussing on how the many challenges in implantation were solved. This book is targeted at professional hydrogeologists, experts in governance, law and policy as well as other professionals that need to incorporate an understanding of groundwater. The book will also appeal to politicians, resource managers, regulators and others interested in sustainable water supply.

Karstified rocks of different lithology cover more than 10% of the continental surface of our planet. It is known that some 20% or even a few percent more of the global population largely depends on karstic groundwater but in many karst areas all over the world there are limited natural resources including absence of drinking waters. The problems of water shortage, equitable water use or water protection from pollution, become more problematic when they come to transboundary regions. The Dinaric region is a classical karst area where created borders of newly established countries after the civil war in 1990s resulted with an urgent need to create ambience for sustainable water management. The project DIKTAS is one of the first ever attempts to establish sustainable integrated management principles in a transboundary karst aquifer of the magnitude of the Dinaric Karst System. This volume presents selected papers from the conference held in June 2014 in Trebinje, Bosnia & Herzegovina including presentations of some of the project’s achievements but also number of other research results conducted in karst environments worldwide.

Fractured rocks extend over much of the world, cropping out in shields, massifs, and the cores of major mountain ranges. They also form the basement below younger sedimentary rocks; at depth; they represent a continuous environment of extended and deep regional groundwater flow. Understanding of groundwater flow and solute transport in fractured rocks is vital for analysis of water resources, water quality and environmental protection, geotechnical and engineering projects, and geothermal energy production. Book chapters include theoretical and practical analyses using numerical modelling, geochemistry, isotopes, aquifer tests, laboratory tests, field mapping, geophysics, geological analyses, and some unique combinations of these types of investigation. Current water resource and geotechnical problems in many countries—and the techniques now used to address them—are also discussed. The importance of geological interpretation is re-emphasised in analysing the hydrogeology of fractured, mostly crystalline rocks and in how critical this is for understanding their hydrology and the wise utilisation of resources. This is indeed hydrogeology in its broadest sense. The importance of, but great difficulty in, extending or upscaling fractured rock hydraulic properties is also made clear.This book is aimed at practicing hydrogeologists, engineers, ecologists, resource managers, and perhaps most importantly, students and earth scientists not yet familiar with the ubiquity and importance of fractured rock systems.

Sustainable groundwater development requires knowledge of the appropriate recharge and transport-processes. This is a prerequisite to understanding: (i) groundwater resources and their availability, and (ii) the dependence between groundwater and the environment. Conceptual understanding of groundwater flow at both temporal and spatial scales (local and regional) is essential for management that will support engineering, industry, agriculture, ecology, and all environmentally related issues.This book has been prepared for scientists, researchers, students, engineers, water resources specialists, groundwater consultants, government administrators and teachers. It is of direct and applied interest to practitioners in hydrogeology and groundwater (resources, quality, pollution, protection and clean-up), geochemistry and hydrogeochemical modelling, and investigators into environmental hydrology, groundwater dependent ecosystems, and other practical environmental issues.

Intensive use of groundwater has resolved the demand for drinking water and, through irrigation, has contributed to the eradication of malnourishment in many developing countries. The spectacular worldwide increase in groundwater use in the last decades, especially in arid and semi-arid regions, has been a silent revolution carried out by millions of small farmers. In some instances, groundwater abstraction has caused problems of quality degradation, excessive drawdown of groundwater levels, land subsidence, reduction of spring and baseflows or degradation of groundwater-dependent ecosystems. Most of these problems could be anticipated, mitigated, or even avoided with more active water agencies, adequate regulations and users’ participation in management. Groundwater Intensive Use contains a selection of papers presented at a symposium held in December 2002 in Valencia, Spain. It constitutes a step forward in creating a greater worldwide awareness of the relevance of groundwater in water resources policy. The book presents new ideas and accounts of recent advances in technical, economic, legal, administrative and political issues. It addresses groundwater development to ecosystems sustainability, through different or complementary approaches. A wide series of case studies from North and South America, Europe, South Asia and North and Sub-Saharan Africa cover the various issues. These case studies represent countries with a wide diversity of social circumstances, from areas in which development is emerging, to communities with a long history of successful groundwater use.

During the past three decades, urban groundwater has emerged as one of the world’s most pressing issues. Explosive population growth, most prevalent in cities, has placed an inordinate demand on groundwater supply, prompting concerns for its long-term sustainability at a time when the quality of available groundwater resources is being increasingly degraded by anthropogenic activity. Cities less reliant on groundwater for potable supply are equally obliged to manage subsurface water with cautious respect since rising groundwater levels can generate a myriad of problems such as unstable land slopes, flooded basements, tunnels and electrical utilities, and the release of polluted water to urban wetlands, springs and streams.Challenges in Urban Groundwater is premised on a growing recognition that most urban groundwater problems are not uniquely associated with any particular region or hydrogeological environment, and much can be learned by understanding the successes and failures of others. It showcases the best urban groundwater papers presented at the International Geological Congress held in Florence, Italy in 2004, and is supplemented by contributions solicited from other world experts active in urban groundwater research. Topics covered range from the urban water balance and rising groundwater levels to groundwater contamination and the role of aquifer modelling.

This book discusses integral groundwater management with scale flow issues and presents methods for defining, preventing, controlling, and mitigating negative environmental impacts related to groundwater. It highlights specific issues such as trans-boundary groundwater flow, groundwater recharge, groundwater mining, and groundwater flow in thick aquifers, and stresses the importance of the sustainable development of groundwater and its social and economic implications. The book will interest groundwater researchers, professionals, and students, providing new insights into the procedures and processes that are influenced by the scale of the groundwater flow system.

By 2050, the demand for water to sustain world agriculture will increase by seventy-five per cent in order to feed an estimated nine billion inhabitants. Increased amounts of water will be required for irrigation and for industrial and domestic use. Natural ecosystems will be threatened by the expansion of agricultural land and by a reduction in water availability, while climate change will exacerbate the situation. Management of available resources, particularly groundwater, will become more critical and aquifers will need to be managed for the benefit of all. These selected papers were first presented at the International Association of Hydrogeologists, Dijon 2006, and are divided into six themes: large aquifers, resource assessment; large aquifers, water salinity and evolution; karstic and carbonate aquifer systems; geothermal aquifer systems; aquifer contamination studies and aquifer monitoring systems and management. The volume also includes a short biography of Henry Darcy and illustrates his contribution to science. Five invited contributions describe modern methods for estimating the hydraulic conductivity of aquifers.

This volume presents the contemporary issues surrounding groundwater pollution risk assessment and the application of vulnerability and risk assessment maps for the effective protection and management of aquifers. Numerous new and improved approaches to intrinsic and specific vulnerability assessment (modified DRASTIC, GOD, VULK, VURAAS) are described, some coupled with geophysical and hydrological surveys and hydrodynamic and transport modelling. Widespread use is made of GIS format.

Advances in Subsurface Contamination of Porous Media: Indicators, Processes and Modelling provides a high level understanding of the processes concerning common and emergent contaminants through their passage from soil to groundwater. The book presents new methodologies and indicators to reach a better understanding of biogeochemical processes as a basis for environmental models. The combined use of the understanding of processes and models’ prognosis will inform researches and water managers and will provide the possibility for better management and preservation of water resources.The book will be a valuable reference for graduate students, researchers and professionals in government and public institutions, and for those interested in soil and groundwater contamination in various aspects.

Groundwater systems are vital to both society and the environment, supporting food production and many other ecosystem services. Sustainable management of this vital resource for future generations requires a sound understanding of how groundwater might respond to the inevitable changes in future climate. In this volume, recent developments within the interlinked areas of the response of groundwater systems to climate variability and climate change are highlighted, using contemporary field investigations and monitoring of aquifers, numerical simulations of aquifer response to climate change predictions and paleohydrogeological studies of ancient groundwater systems. The book provides an up-to-date description of the relationship between groundwater behaviour and ancient, historical, current and future climates for a range of diverse aquifer systems around the world.

Sustainable groundwater development requires knowledge of the appropriate recharge and transport-processes. This is a prerequisite to understanding: (i) groundwater resources and their availability, and (ii) the dependence between groundwater and the environment. Conceptual understanding of groundwater flow at both temporal and spatial scales (local and regional) is essential for management that will support engineering, industry, agriculture, ecology, and all environmentally related issues.This book has been prepared for scientists, researchers, students, engineers, water resources specialists, groundwater consultants, government administrators and teachers. It is of direct and applied interest to practitioners in hydrogeology and groundwater (resources, quality, pollution, protection and clean-up), geochemistry and hydrogeochemical modelling, and investigators into environmental hydrology, groundwater dependent ecosystems, and other practical environmental issues.

This volume offers detailed comparisons and validations of different methods of assessing groundwater vulnerability (DRASTIC, GOD, PI, RTt, AVI, SINTACS, COP). It contains new aspects of vulnerability assessment for the evaluation of coastal aquifer vulnerability and aquifer vulnerability to methane gas leakage from shale gas wells. The book also contains the results of studies on intrinsic and specific vulnerability assessment (migration of antibiotics and nitrate, groundwatersurface water interaction), with examples of the different national approaches to groundwater vulnerability mapping in Poland, Ireland, Italy and elsewhere. There are 15 chapters derived from two IAH conferences held in Ustron´, Poland in 2015 and 2018.The book is valuable for those interested in groundwater vulnerability, in risk assessment, and in environmental issues. It is aimed at land use planners, water managers, the environmental industry, regional and local environmental protection councils and students studying hydrogeology and environmental sciences.

Karstified rocks of different lithology cover more than 10% of the continental surface of our planet. It is known that some 20% or even a few percent more of the global population largely depends on karstic groundwater but in many karst areas all over the world there are limited natural resources including absence of drinking waters. The problems of water shortage, equitable water use or water protection from pollution, become more problematic when they come to transboundary regions. The Dinaric region is a classical karst area where created borders of newly established countries after the civil war in 1990s resulted with an urgent need to create ambience for sustainable water management. The project DIKTAS is one of the first ever attempts to establish sustainable integrated management principles in a transboundary karst aquifer of the magnitude of the Dinaric Karst System. This volume presents selected papers from the conference held in June 2014 in Trebinje, Bosnia & Herzegovina including presentations of some of the project’s achievements but also number of other research results conducted in karst environments worldwide.

Groundwater systems are vital to both society and the environment, supporting food production and many other ecosystem services. Sustainable management of this vital resource for future generations requires a sound understanding of how groundwater might respond to the inevitable changes in future climate. In this volume, recent developments within the interlinked areas of the response of groundwater systems to climate variability and climate change are highlighted, using contemporary field investigations and monitoring of aquifers, numerical simulations of aquifer response to climate change predictions and paleohydrogeological studies of ancient groundwater systems. The book provides an up-to-date description of the relationship between groundwater behaviour and ancient, historical, current and future climates for a range of diverse aquifer systems around the world.

One of the key features of agricultural development in the last five decades has been intensive groundwater use in the Indo-Gangetic Basin (Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bangladesh) and in the Yellow River Basin (China). Groundwater irrigates almost 60% of the net irrigated area in South Asia and 70% in the north China plains. Groundwater use for agriculture is still increasing. Despite the growing significance of groundwater to agricultural growth, food security and rural livelihoods globally, and at the same time significant signs of limitations and constraints for further use, knowledge of the subject has remained limited. The subject includes the wider issues of socioeconomic impacts, political economy, groundwater institutions, access to other resources like energy and land, approaches to resource governance and management and specifically integrating evidence-based science into management decisions.This book addresses these information shortfalls and provides a consolidated and cross-disciplinary source of information and documentation of realities and challenges of contemporary agricultural groundwater use and management in poverty-prone areas of Asia. It draws on primary data collected in the course of an innovative, cross-coordinated and inter-disciplinary fieldwork programme, covering those regions in Asia that significantly depend on groundwater for agricultural livelihoods. This work is essential reading for hydrogeologists, socio-economists, agro-economists and water managers working in poor countries. Donors and implementers, both government and NGO, will also learn from the experiences described in this book.

This book discusses integral groundwater management with scale flow issues and presents methods for defining, preventing, controlling, and mitigating negative environmental impacts related to groundwater. It highlights specific issues such as trans-boundary groundwater flow, groundwater recharge, groundwater mining, and groundwater flow in thick aquifers, and stresses the importance of the sustainable development of groundwater and its social and economic implications. The book will interest groundwater researchers, professionals, and students, providing new insights into the procedures and processes that are influenced by the scale of the groundwater flow system.

The first book devoted entirely to the problem of nitrate risk and behaviour in groundwater, this volume includes twenty-seven papers selected from those presented during the Euromeeting of the International Association of Hydrogeologists "Nitrate in Groundwater in Europe" held in Wisla, Poland in 2002. The problems presented and discussed in Wisla covered all aspects of nitrate pollution of groundwaters globally, while the articles describing the case studies focus on groundwater in Europe. The remaining chapters examine the main chemical and physical processes which affect nitrate in groundwater, as well as describing nitrate distribution in various aquifers, seen as an essential problem areas of groundwater protection.

One of the key features of agricultural development in the last five decades has been intensive groundwater use in the Indo-Gangetic Basin (Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bangladesh) and in the Yellow River Basin (China). Groundwater irrigates almost 60% of the net irrigated area in South Asia and 70% in the north China plains. Groundwater use for agriculture is still increasing. Despite the growing significance of groundwater to agricultural growth, food security and rural livelihoods globally, and at the same time significant signs of limitations and constraints for further use, knowledge of the subject has remained limited. The subject includes the wider issues of socioeconomic impacts, political economy, groundwater institutions, access to other resources like energy and land, approaches to resource governance and management and specifically integrating evidence-based science into management decisions.This book addresses these information shortfalls and provides a consolidated and cross-disciplinary source of information and documentation of realities and challenges of contemporary agricultural groundwater use and management in poverty-prone areas of Asia. It draws on primary data collected in the course of an innovative, cross-coordinated and inter-disciplinary fieldwork programme, covering those regions in Asia that significantly depend on groundwater for agricultural livelihoods. This work is essential reading for hydrogeologists, socio-economists, agro-economists and water managers working in poor countries. Donors and implementers, both government and NGO, will also learn from the experiences described in this book.

Fractured rocks extend over much of the world, cropping out in shields, massifs, and the cores of major mountain ranges. They also form the basement below younger sedimentary rocks; at depth; they represent a continuous environment of extended and deep regional groundwater flow. Understanding of groundwater flow and solute transport in fractured rocks is vital for analysis of water resources, water quality and environmental protection, geotechnical and engineering projects, and geothermal energy production. Book chapters include theoretical and practical analyses using numerical modelling, geochemistry, isotopes, aquifer tests, laboratory tests, field mapping, geophysics, geological analyses, and some unique combinations of these types of investigation. Current water resource and geotechnical problems in many countries—and the techniques now used to address them—are also discussed. The importance of geological interpretation is re-emphasised in analysing the hydrogeology of fractured, mostly crystalline rocks and in how critical this is for understanding their hydrology and the wise utilisation of resources. This is indeed hydrogeology in its broadest sense. The importance of, but great difficulty in, extending or upscaling fractured rock hydraulic properties is also made clear.This book is aimed at practicing hydrogeologists, engineers, ecologists, resource managers, and perhaps most importantly, students and earth scientists not yet familiar with the ubiquity and importance of fractured rock systems.