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Groundwater is but one component of the hydrological cycle. It interacts with and is dependent on how the other components of the hydrological cycle are managed. The rationale for sharing or allocating groundwater is guided by the principle of . There is no universal theory of justice to which we can appeal, to help us operationalise this principle to the satisfaction of all water uses and users. Often the losers in allocation decisions are marginal communities or disempowered individuals or groups, and the natural environment. This results in the emergence of a variety of social and environmental injustices, especially if the burden falls continuously on the same group or ecosystem. Social – Environmental justice is a useful lens in the arsenal of researchers, policy makers and natural resource managers that can be used to highlight the importance of a systems approach when dealing with common pool resources such as groundwater.

This chapter focuses on the design of rules for apportioning limited groundwater resources among agricultural users. It shows that different (often antagonist) conceptions of desirable water allocation rules co-exist within the agricultural community, reflecting farmers’ differences in terms of economic self-interests, historical background and ethical values. Based on an empirical case study conducted in France, we disentangle the factors which determine the acceptability of alternative groundwater allocation rules by farmers, paying specific attention to the perception of their legitimacy, feasibility and social justice. We show that social justice plays a very significant role in the construction of the acceptability judgment, as already highlighted by a series of Australian studies.

In the twentieth century, groundwater characterization focused primarily on easily measured hydraulic metrics of water storage and flows. Twenty-first century concepts of groundwater , however, encompass other factors having societal value, such as ecological well-being. Effective ecohydrological science is a nexus of fundamental understanding derived from two scientific disciplines: (1) ecology, where scale, thresholds, feedbacks and tipping points for societal questions form the basis for the characterization, and (2) hydrology, where the characteristics, magnitude, and timing of water flows are characterized for a defined system of interest. In addition to ecohydrology itself, integrated groundwater management requires input from resource managers to understand which areas of the vast world of ecohydrology are important for decision making. Expectations of acceptable uncertainty, or even what ecohydrological outputs have utility, are often not well articulated within societal decision making frameworks, or within the science community itself. Similarly, “acceptable levels of impact” are difficult to define. Three examples are given to demonstrate the use of ecohydrological considerations for long-term sustainability of groundwater resources and their related ecosystem function. Such examples illustrate the importance of accommodating ecohydrogeological aspects into integrated groundwater management of the twenty-first century, regardless of society, climate, or setting.

This chapter begins by briefly discussing the three major classes of groundwater dependent ecosystems (GDEs), namely: (I) GDEs that reside within groundwater (e.g. karsts; stygofauna); (II) GDEs requiring the surface expression of groundwater (e.g. springs; wetlands); and (III) GDEs dependent upon sub-surface availability of groundwater within the rooting depth of vegetation (e.g. woodlands; riparian forests). We then discuss a range of techniques available for identifying the location of GDEs in a landscape, with a primary focus of class III GDEs and a secondary focus of class II GDEs. These techniques include inferential methodologies, using hydrological, geochemical and geomorphological indicators, biotic assemblages, historical documentation, and remote sensing methodologies. Techniques available to quantify groundwater use by GDEs are briefly described, including application of simple modelling tools, remote sensing methods and complex modelling applications. This chapter also outlines the contemporary threats to the persistence of GDEs across the world. This involves a description of the “natural” hydrological attributes relevant to GDEs and the processes that lead to disturbances to natural hydrological attributes as a result of human activities (e.g. groundwater extraction). Two cases studies, (1) Class III: terrestrial vegetation and (2) Class II: springs, are discussed in relation to these issues.

Groundwater is available in many parts of the world, but the quality of the water may limit its use. Contaminants can limit the use of groundwater through concerns associated with human health, aquatic health, economic costs, or even societal perception. Given this broad range of concerns, this chapter focuses on examples of how water quality issues influence integrated groundwater management. One example evaluates the importance of a naturally occurring contaminant Arsenic (As) for drinking water supply, one explores issues resulting from agricultural activities on the land surface and factors that influence related groundwater management, and the last examines unique issues that result from human-introduced viral pathogens for groundwater-derived drinking water vulnerability. The examples underscore how integrated groundwater management lies at the intersections of environmental characterization, engineering constraints, societal needs, and human perception of acceptable water quality. As such, water quality factors can be a key driver for societal decision making.

Degradation of the quality of groundwater due to salinization processes is one of the key issues limiting the global dependence on groundwater in aquifers. As the salinization of shallow aquifers is closely related to root-zone salinization, the two must be considered together. This chapter initially describes the physical and chemical processes causing salinization of the root-zone and shallow aquifers, highlighting the dynamics of these processes and how they can be influenced by irrigation and drainage practices, thus illustrating the connectivity between soil and groundwater salinization. The processes leading to aquifer salinization in both inland and coastal areas are discussed. The roles of extractive resource industries, such as mining and coal bed methane operations, in causing aquifer salinization are also outlined. Hydrogeochemical changes occurring during salinization of aquifers are examined with the aid of Piper and Mixing Diagrams. The chapter then illustrates the extent of the problem of groundwater salinization as influenced by management and policy using two case studies. The first is representative of a developing country and explores management of salt-affected soils in the Indus Valley, Pakistan, while the second looks at a developed country, and illustrates how through monitoring we can deduce causes of shallow aquifer salinity in the Namoi Catchment of NSW, Australia. Finally, there is a section on integration and conclusions where we illustrate how management to mitigate salinization needs to be integrated with policy to diminish the threat to productivity that occurs with groundwater degradation.

As covered in Chap. , many of the world’s aquifers are rapidly being depleted. Nearly one quarter of the world’s population – 1.7 billion people – live in regions where more water is being consumed than nature can renew (Gleeson et al. 2012). Over-exploitation occurs when groundwater abstraction is too intensive, for example for irrigation or for direct industrial water-supply like extracting fossil fuels (Pettenati et al. 2013; Foster et al. 2013). When groundwater is continuously over-pumped, year after year, the volume withdrawn from the aquifer cannot be replaced by recharge. Eventually, the groundwater level is much lower than its initial level and even when pumping stops, the aquifer has trouble rising once again to its original level. In continental zones, over-exploitation can lead to groundwater drawdown and, ultimately, to subsidence through development of sinkholes when underground caverns or channels collapse. In coastal areas, the decrease in groundwater recharge results in saltwater intrusion into the aquifer formation (Petalas and Lambrakis 2006; De Montety et al. 2008). Preserving local groundwater resources is an environmental and economic issue in coastal zones and is vital in an island context. The increasing demand for water caused by a growing population can lead to the salinization of groundwater resources if these are systematically over-exploited. Limiting the salinization of coastal aquifers is consistent with the groundwater objective of the European Union Water Framework Directive, which is to achieve a good qualitative and quantitative status by 2015. The economic advantage of preserving these threatened water resources is that, when there is a growing demand, a local water resource is sustained and there is no need to import water. Transporting water can cost 2–10 times more than limiting the intrusion of saltwater into a coastal aquifer.

Managed aquifer recharge (MAR) is one tool in integrated water resources management which can restore over-allocated or brackish aquifers, protect groundwater-dependent ecosystems, enhance urban and rural water supplies, reduce evaporation losses and improve water supply security. This chapter describes the ways in which MAR is used around the world and presents two Australian case studies, with a focus on economics. Aquifer storage and recovery of urban stormwater via a confined limestone aquifer is shown to provide a viable alternative to use of existing mains water or desalinated seawater for public open space irrigation. The second case study is a desk-top evaluation of the potential for recharge of harvested floodwater via infiltration basins for irrigation of cotton and faba bean crops. Based on assumptions about scale of operations, component and maintenance costs, and evaporation losses, the net benefits of infiltration basins for a range of infiltration rates were compared with those of surface water storage and of aquifer storage and recovery wells. Infiltration basins with moderate to high rates of infiltration (>0.15 m/d) had the highest net benefits and warrant testing in a pilot program. Water treatment costs make ASR with flood waters unattractive for crop irrigation, in comparison with both basin infiltration and surface storage. Selection of the most economic method of storage depends on availability of an aquifer, soil and subsurface hydraulic characteristics, available quantity and quality of surface water, land value and end use of the water. MAR is shown to offer a range of options that warrant investigation in comparison with conventional supply alternatives to enable the most effective water resources management to be implemented.

This chapter is intended to provide an overview of groundwater policy development in China, analyze the integration dimensions in current policy, identify the missing pieces and major challenges of integration in groundwater management, and offer suggestions towards more integrated groundwater management. The average groundwater recharge in China is about 880 billion m/year, 70 % of which is unevenly distributed in the south. Groundwater exploitation has doubled over the past three decades, and agriculture is the largest consumer at approximately 60 %. The exploitation of groundwater sustains a steady increase in agricultural production, but also brings about a multitude of eco-environmental problems. Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the focus of groundwater work has changed from investigating and exploiting to managing and protecting groundwater, and the viewpoint that groundwater is a single natural resource has gradually given way to that regarding groundwater as an environmental element with multiple functions. Integrated considerations of groundwater quantity, quality and its eco-environmental effects have been reflected in several programs aimed at prevention and control of groundwater contamination and land subsidence. Integration of surface water and groundwater by managed aquifer recharge and water transfer projects has been implemented. In the future, improvement of the legislation system, strengthening of institutional control, building-up of professional management teams, and increasing stakeholder involvement and public participation are all needed facets towards a more integrated groundwater management.

All environments have been modified by human activity and those interactions produce “winners” and “losers”. Improvements require changes in human behaviour, especially when these activities deny opportunities for future generations. However, changing human behaviour can be difficult to accomplish. We need to establish better ways to reach and implement sound decisions. For social researchers, a key assumption is that complex and difficult natural resource management (NRM) issues are often best addressed by engaging stakeholders in processes that involve dialogue, learning and action – that is, by engaging and building human and social capital. In this chapter we identify some of the social research principles and practices that will enhance groundwater governance. Social researchers have developed principles and approaches for effective stakeholder engagement, social impact assessment, collaborative approaches for NRM governance and changing the use and management of land and water by rural landholders. We conclude with a discussion of some of the challenges for social scientists contributing to larger integrated programs.