Integrated Groundwater Management

I am delighted to introduce Integrated Groundwater Management, a text I consider an essential contribution to the water management field exploring relevant governance, biophysical, socioeconomic and decision support standpoints as they relate to the issue of groundwater.
Groundwater is a vital resource for humans, the environment and planet earth as a whole. It provides over 97 % of accessible freshwater on the planet. Half of the world’s drinking water and nearly half of irrigation water for agriculture come from groundwater. Groundwater is the sole source of water in many regions; in most other regions, it becomes a crucial buffer resource when other sources are not sufficient. As our increasing reliance on it demonstrates, groundwater depletion, pollution, and
impacts on dependent ecosystems are pressing issues for humanity worldwide. Contemporary groundwater management has moved well beyond a concern with how much water is stored underground or can be extracted from aquifers. Today we recognise that integrated, effective and efficient groundwater management relies on pulling together work in a variety of disciplines such as climate science, ecology, socioeconomics, public policy and law, as well as hydrogeology. However, whilst we realise the importance of multiple perspectives and a diversity of contexts and data, the challenge of integrating and organising all of this information into a decision making framework remains.
[Cham: 2016]

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