Enhancing citizens' sense of personal responsibility and risk perception for promoting public participation in sustainable groundwater resource management in Rayong Groundwater Basin, Thailand

Approaches to achieve sustainable use and management of groundwater resources in Qatar: A review

Nigeria has greater challenges when it comes to groundwater development and management. The management of the resource is lagging behind the pace of development, and often, very little control is exercised in its exploitation. The current groundwater resources development and supply status is unacceptably low and needs a major transformation. With the rapid growth in population, urbanization, industrialization and competition for economic development, groundwater resource has become vulnerable to depletion and degradation. Management of this valuable resource is determined by its acceptability and utilizability in terms of quantity and quality. Due to imbalance between demand and availability, management approaches are facing various ethical dilemas. Against this context, relevant questions present themselves: What is the real extent of the problems? Why are the present efforts so limited? ; and what can be done to change the situation, to start on a path to more sustainable and equitable development and management of groundwater resources? To be able to adequately address the questions and devise intelligent answers, an analysis of the present impediments deserves attention. Only by clarifying the constraints and addressing them, will any significant changes be possible, let alone occur. This paper therefore emphasizes that the machinery of groundwater resources development and management needs an urgent overhauling with the aim of streamlining the overlapping functions of the various agencies that have operated the system up till now. More importantly, the paper suggested integrated approaches/strategies for sustainable management as well as offers some relevant policy recommendations for groundwater management in Nigeria. Key words: Groundwater resources, groundwater management, groundwater policy, sustainability, groundwater utilization, Nigeria.

Groundwater resources at all times have provided and continue to provide a significant impact on the economic, social, and often political activities of any state, especially if the reserves of this strategic resource are limited. Coordinated groundwater resources management is one of the main conditions for the sustainable development of countries’ transboundary basins, affecting all aspects of human activity, including water supply, agriculture, industry, hydropower, water transport, environment, and the very quality of human life. Modern international trends in the field of transboundary groundwater resources management is undergoing significant changes. This article dwells upon the features of groundwater as a mineral, the structure of state groundwater management in the Russian Federation, the regulation of transboundary groundwater use, and protection at the international and domestic levels are analyzed. The system of management of the transboundary aquifers of Kazakhstan and Belarus is considered in more detail. The unitization approach used for coordinated development of oil and gas fields can, to some extent, serve as a model for managing common groundwater aquifers located on the border of neighboring states. Dogmatic and comparative legal methods consisting of analyzing the applicable legal regulations on the use and protection of groundwater were used. Several recommendations for improving the system of state sustainable management of groundwater resources at the global level are proposed.

Groundwater is a major source of water supply throughout the World. It is the largest available source of freshwater, which supports human health, socio-economic development, and ecological diversity. However, over-exploitation and the growing water pollution are threatening our ecosystems as well as the life of our future generations. How to maintain long-term sustainable yield from aquifers is a serious global concern, particularly in the developing countries. The main intent of this chapter is to highlight the constraints and challenges of sustainable development and management of groundwater resources in the developing nations. This chapter also intends to suggest ways for improving water resources management in general and groundwater management in particular. Firstly, the importance of freshwater is highlighted followed by an overview of growing problem of water crisis in the World and India. Secondly, the constraints and challenges of groundwater management in the developing nations are described. Thirdly, the modern concepts of water management, together with the principles of sustainable groundwater management are discussed. Finally, considering the enormity and severity of water problems in the developing countries (including India), a wakeup call is sounded. It is emphasized that the modern concepts coupled with emerging tools and techniques for water management hold a great promise for the sustainable management of groundwater resources in the developed and developing countries.

This paper reviews the hydro-geochemical characterization of Qatar’s aquifer. In addition, it highlights the opportunities in the current groundwater management practices to achieve a sustainable groundwater use in Qatar such as assessing and monitoring the groundwater quantity and quality. In this review article, the Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response framework is used to analyze the water resource system in Qatar; begins by describing the causal chain from driving forces of impacts and finally state the responses. As the main driver is the intensive use of groundwater for agriculture irrigation, this causes high pressure on groundwater abstraction and deteriorate the state of the groundwater environment in term of quantity and quality, which has an impact on the food and water supply demands. Therefore, the final response highlights the need for the enhancing the rainfall infiltration to the aquifers, recharging the groundwater aquifers using treated sewage effluent or desalinated water development of groundwater treatment techniques, the use of efficient water irrigation practices, the reuse of treated wastewater for irrigation and the development of certain water-use tariff structures and awareness campaigns for farmers.

Groundwater plays a fundamental yet often little appreciated role in supporting economic development and human well-being in both urban and rural environments, as well as supporting many aquatic ecosystems in Africa. Thus, groundwater has high relevance to the development and well-being of Africa, if adequately assessed and sustainably exploited. Whilst the potential for groundwater-resources development continues to be reported in the literature, a quantitative understanding of these issues remains poor. The objective of this paper is to highlight the main groundwater issues and problems in Africa and the current and expected opportunities for sustainable groundwater management. This will be done through the review of existing knowledge of groundwater resources and of ongoing and planned groundwater management programs and initiatives. Groundwater resources in Africa face increasing threat of pollution from urbanisation, industrial development, agricultural and mining activities, and from poor sanitation practices and over-exploitation due to increasing demand to meet human and agricultural needs. However, despite the existence of a number of groundwater management challenges, groundwater resources in Africa are still generally under-developed and can meet the various needs in a sustainable manner if better managed. Thus, strategies to ensure sustainable development and management of groundwater resources need to be put in place. These include establishment of groundwater monitoring systems, understanding of the groundwater–aquatic ecosystem relationships, management of transboundary aquifers, addressing climate-change impacts on groundwater, assessing the impact of increased pumping from various types of aquifers on sustainability of groundwater abstraction, and capacity building in groundwater management.

Sustainable Development and Management of Groundwater Resources in Mining Affected Areas: A Review

Combining monitoring and modelling tools as a basis for city-scale concepts for a sustainable thermal management of urban groundwater resources

In 1949, Aldo Leopold’s son, Luna, published his father’s book A Sand County Almanac (Oxford University Press, New York) following Aldo’s untimely death the preceding year. The final section of the book introduces “The Land Ethic,” a concept that became the cornerstone of environmental ethics. “The Land Ethic” extends the concept of community to include not only humans but also animals and plants as well as the inanimate components of the environment such as soil, rocks, and water. Leopold collectively refers to animals, plants, soil, rocks, and water as “land” and states that the land has a “right to continued existence in a natural state” in at least some places. In ground water management, we talk about ethical use of water and define limits to use with concepts such as safe yield and sustainability. But even under the most enlightened circumstances, ground water management is pursued with a human-centric viewpoint. For example, we might favor sustainable development of ground water to preserve the resource for future generations of humans and to avoid inconvenient adverse effects such as land subsidence, sea water intrusion, degradation of water quality, or esthetically unpleasant effects such as loss of springs and habitat for animals and plants that give us pleasure. Sustainable use is also linked to economics. However, in the philosophical context used by Leopold, an ethic places “a limitation on freedom of action in the struggle for existence.” Leopold gave this advice: “Examine each question in terms of what is ethically and esthetically right, as well as what is economically expedient. A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.” If strictly followed, this directive would place severe limitations on decision making in many ground water management scenarios. In fact, the whole ground water industry runs counter to the concept of ethics, as defined by Leopold, since we aim to develop ground water resources for beneficial use by humans. For example, the thesis in Water and Ethics: Use of Groundwater (Lamas 2004, New York: UNESCO, p. 33) is that intensive use of ground water is beneficial and ethical if development is “well designed and controlled.” Aldo Leopold, like Henry Thoreau, exhibited tendencies toward mysticism. Leopold talked about “goose music” and Thoreau wondered who might hear the fishes when they cry. While Leopold probably did not believe that inanimate objects such as rocks and water have spirits (as in Shinto and the beliefs of Native Americans), he certainly recognized a vital force in nature (Nash, R., 1977, Do rocks have rights? The Center Magazine, November/December: 2–12). Most people acknowledge that respect for oneself, for family, for “tribe,” for race or ethnic heritage, and for nation imposes limitations on personal freedom; in civilized societies, codified bodies of laws enforce these limitations. Furthermore, most people will recognize that respect for life, with accompanying limitations on freedom, ought to be extended to all humankind and could be extended at least to animals. On the other hand, if humans are to survive and thrive, we must necessarily consume plants, if not animals, and utilize water. Yet, Leopold believed that ethics might eventually evolve to the stage where humans would recognize “the land” (i.e., plants, animals, soil, rocks, and water) as part of our community. Extending this idea even further, and speaking philosophically, humans can impart “rights” to inanimate objects, rights that they obviously cannot claim for themselves (Nash 1977). Given the realities of the global struggle for existence, it is unrealistic at this point in time to advocate water resources management based solely on a ground water ethic derived from Leopold’s Land Ethic. Leopold was enough of a realist to appreciate “The Land Ethic” was a concept before its time, and he compromised by recommending that ethics be considered along with economics and esthetics. Nevertheless, today we preserve places where ground water exists in a natural state, even if our motivation is based in esthetics. For example, spectacular displays of ground water discharge (geysers) are protected in Yellowstone National Park, and in many places even minor springs are protected locally. Maybe in another 100 years, with additional technological and engineering advances, our notion of ethics will have evolved so that a true ground water ethic, as envisioned by Leopold, will emerge in some form as a basis for making management decisions.

The future of Malawi depends on the sustainable development of groundwater resources, and this study provides a detailed stable isotopic-hydrochemical baseline characterisation and conceptualisation of the Linthipe River Basin in the Lake Malawi Basin at the southern extreme of the East Africa Rift System. The Linthipe River Basin is essential for Lilongwe, Malawi's capital city, when it comes to key water supplies. It is also critical to the water supplies for the rural population whose reliance on groundwater resources is predominant. The study flagged groundwater as a potential source of water supply because the key source of water supply in the basin, the Kamuzu Dam along Lilongwe River, is constrained and imperilled by severe catchment degradation among other adverse factors. Sustainable groundwater resource development and management require proper monitoring and assessment, and isotope hydrology is a valuable tool for conducting comprehensive groundwater monitoring and assessment. The study showed the usefulness of isotope hydrology as an effective tool for examining groundwater conditions, its seasonal variations over time, its interactions with surface water, and its replenishment. The study also showed that isotope hydrology is a good way to look at the saltiness of groundwater and other chemical contaminants, considering that high salinity and other chemical contaminants limit and threaten its availability and quality, making it harder to reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs). The study demonstrated how an understanding of the relationship between the stable isotopic composition of groundwater and surface water is crucial for the development of a conceptual model in a hydrologically complex river basin The study developed a stable isotopic-hydrochemical signature conceptual model that has the potential to shed new light on the most pressing issues in Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) systems in Malawi. The hydraulic complexity of the groundwater and surface water interactions revealed by the study is critical to IWRM and warrants high-resolution studies, for which the use of isotopic tools plays a critical role in tracking SDG 6 targets. The stable isotopic-hydrochemical baselines developed will improve the forensic study of potential future consequences stemming from environmental drivers like land development, climate change, and water mixing, all of which influence IWRM systems. Hence, the study valuably contributes to Malawi’s drive of achieving SDG 6 by 2030.Key references:Monjerezi, M.; Vogt, R.D.; Aagaard, P.; Saka, J.D.K. Using δ87Sr/δ86Sr, δ18O and δ2H isotope data along with major chemistry composition to assess groundwater salinization in lower Shire River Valley, Appl. Geochem. 2011, 26, 2201–2214. [CrossRef] Chavula, G.M.S. Malawi. In Groundwater Availability and Use in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Review of Fifteen Countries; Pavelic, P., Giordano, M., Keraita, B., Ramesh, V., Rao, T., Eds.; International Water Management Institute: Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2012; Available online: http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/Publications/Books/PDF/ groundwater_availability_and_use_in_sub-saharan_africa_a_review_of_15_countries.pdf (accessed on 15 October 2019). Rivett, M.O.; Robinson, H.L.; Wild, L.M.; Melville, J.; McGrath, L.; Phiri, P.; Flink, J.; Wanangwa, G.J.; Mleta, P.; MacLeod, S.S.P.; et al. Arsenic occurrence in Malawi groundwater. J. Appl. Sci. Environ. Manag. 2018, 22, 1807–1816. [CrossRef]

Groundwater policy is widely considered an essential element for building effective groundwater use and carrying out the country’s groundwater resources planning and management. This review first of its kind which gives extensive information about groundwater policy at the national and state level in India. This review focuses on the new national-level groundwater policy of India and discusses the salient features of groundwater policy for selected countries. Based on the ongoing challenges of groundwater issues in India, the benefits and drawbacks are described, making the future decision-making process easier and more efficient when contemplating regulation and known groundwater challenges. Considering the new provisions and the ongoing challenges, this paper discusses gaps in policy and its effects on the overall sustainability of groundwater resources. Our findings provide insight into the new national-level groundwater policy and outline limitations in areas such as the agricultural sector, land subsidence, cross-border conditions, climate change, information dissemination, groundwater and surface water connectivity, etc. that need urgent attention.

The importance of groundwater resources in buffering the effects of climate change on water scarcity and security is highly acknowledged worldwide. However, groundwater development and use can only be sustainable with a more robust policy and institutional arrangements related to water governance. The purpose of this study was to analyse the legal framework of water resource development and management in order to contribute in identifying policy constraints to sustainable groundwater resource development and management in Tanzania. The paper used information from literature reviews and data collected through qualitative methods using a case study of Usangu Plains in the Upper Great Ruaha River Catchment in Tanzania. The findings reveal that water governance institutional frameworks are well structured to provide guidelines on how water as a basic human resource can be utilised and properly managed, but most importantly, these institutional arrangements place disproportionate emphasis on groundwater. Attaining sustainable groundwater development and use requires new disclosures and narratives in water policy and law, integrating both surface and groundwater resources. The weaknesses identified in groundwater governance need to be taken on Board once, the existing water institutional frameworks open to perfection for sustainable utilisation of groundwater resources

Groundwater is a critical component for socioeconomic development in India. The country exhibits wide spectrum on geology, climatic condition, and terrain, which is reflected in considerable variation in groundwater occurrence and movement. In addition, excessive withdrawal, in comparison with its annual replenishment, has created overexploitation of this precious natural resource, obliterating natural groundwater regime in large areas of the country. Besides, in many parts, the groundwater is contaminated both geogenically and anthropogenically. India as a country has established himself as the largest groundwater extractor in the world. The looming issues of overexploitation and deteriorating quality call for sustainable management of groundwater resource in long-term perspective. With the preamble on the review of the hydrogeology of the country, this paper summarizes 20 contributions that have been included in this volume. The papers are rich in their content and present a wide array of groundwater issues of the country, ranging from quality, conjunctive use of surface and groundwater, artificial recharge, community participation in its management, urban hydrogeology, coastal aquifer dynamics, mining hydrogeology, and application of state-of-the-art investigation techniques in groundwater survey and management. The aroma of the volume will enrich which are directly or indirectly linked with groundwater resource management of the country.

A steady state finite difference model, MODFLOW, is developed to quantify groundwater in Jamwa Ramgarh, Jaipur (Dt) Rajasthan, using Groundwater data from 06 observation wells. ArcGIS was used to generate various shapefiles required as input files in Visual MODFlow Flex. The findings indicate that the calculated contours of groundwater levels closely correspond to the observed contours. The sustainable utilization and management of groundwater resources pose significant challenges for many countries worldwide. In recent years, groundwater modelling has emerged as an effective approach to tackle these challenges. Various modelling software tools are available to simulate groundwater flow, with MODFLOW being widely used to investigate the interactions between surface water and groundwater and to develop models for specific study areas. MODFLOW, a renowned groundwater modelling software, enables researchers and water resource professionals to understand and analyze the complex dynamics of groundwater systems. By utilizing MODFLOW, it becomes possible to assess the interactions between surface water and groundwater, evaluate the impacts of pumping or recharge activities, and make informed decisions regarding the sustainable management of groundwater resources. The utilization of MODFLOW and similar modelling software plays a crucial role in advancing our understanding of groundwater systems and supporting effective groundwater resource management practices.

The National Water Act (NWA) of 1998 has been promulgated in South Africa to support the attainment of sustainable water resource use. Before the Act was promulgated, landowners were entitled to unlimited groundwater use. The Act rectified this anomaly; however, the practical application of sustainable development concepts in groundwater resource management will be complex. A multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA) approach was used to identify critical alternative courses of action and to develop a decision-making framework for sustainable groundwater management. Through applying the decision model described in this paper a number of strategies have been proposed which are aligned to the legislative requirements of the NWA. Water SA Vol. 32(2) 2006: pp.119-128