The Role of Large-Scale Experiments in Groundwater and Subsurface Remediation Research: The VEGAS Concept and Approach

Abstract

Water resources engineering and management are issues of ever increasing importance in the densely populated and highly industrialized regions of the world. This includes both the quantitative problems of water availability for the needs of society and the problems of water quality. In Germany, as in many industrialized countries in the northern hemisphere, hydrological conditions are such that quantitative problems of water availability are limited to only local problems, since the natural resource water is available much more abundantly than needed. On the other hand, water resources engineering and management in Germany is primarily confronted with issues concerning water quality and the protection of natural water resources against the effects of human activities from settlements, industry and agriculture. Protection of the groundwater reserves and remediation of groundwater pollution is a key issue that has gained considerable public attention in recent years.