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Open Access 2016 | Open Access | Buch

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Integrated Groundwater Management

Concepts, Approaches and Challenges

herausgegeben von: Anthony J. Jakeman, Olivier Barreteau, Randall J. Hunt, Jean-Daniel Rinaudo, Andrew Ross

Verlag: Springer International Publishing

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The aim of this book is to document for the first time the dimensions and requirements of effective integrated groundwater management (IGM). Groundwater management is a formidable challenge, one that remains one of humanity’s foremost priorities. It has become a largely non-renewable resource that is overexploited in many parts of the world. In the 21st century, the issue moves from how to simply obtain the water we need to how we manage it sustainably for future generations, future economies, and future ecosystems. The focus then becomes one of understanding the drivers and current state of the groundwater resource, and restoring equilibrium to at-risk aquifers. Many interrelated dimensions, however, come to bear when trying to manage groundwater effectively. An integrated approach to groundwater necessarily involves many factors beyond the aquifer itself, such as surface water, water use, water quality, and ecohydrology. Moreover, the science by itself can only define the fundamental bounds of what is possible; effective IGM must also engage the wider community of stakeholders to develop and support policy and other socioeconomic tools needed to realize effective IGM.

In order to demonstrate IGM, this book covers theory and principles, embracing: 1) an overview of the dimensions and requirements of groundwater management from an international perspective; 2) the scale of groundwater issues internationally and its links with other sectors, principally energy and climate change; 3) groundwater governance with regard to principles, instruments and institutions available for IGM; 4) biophysical constraints and the capacity and role of hydroecological and hydrogeological science including water quality concerns; and 5) necessary tools including models, data infrastructures, decision support systems and the management of uncertainty. Examples of effective, and failed, IGM are given. Throughout, the importance of the socioeconomic context that connects all effective IGM is emphasized. Taken as a whole, this work relates the many facets of effective IGM, from the catchment to global perspective.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

Open Access

Erratum to: Integrated Groundwater Management
Anthony J. Jakeman, Olivier Barreteau, Randall J. Hunt, Jean-Daniel Rinaudo, Andrew Ross

Integration Overview and Problem Settings

Frontmatter

Open Access

1. Integrated Groundwater Management: An Overview of Concepts and Challenges
Abstract
Managing water is a grand challenge problem and has become one of humanity’s foremost priorities. Surface water resources are typically societally managed and relatively well understood; groundwater resources, however, are often hidden and more difficult to conceptualize. Replenishment rates of groundwater cannot match past and current rates of depletion in many parts of the world. In addition, declining quality of the remaining groundwater commonly cannot support all agricultural, industrial and urban demands and ecosystem functioning, especially in the developed world. In the developing world, it can fail to even meet essential human needs. The issue is: how do we manage this crucial resource in an acceptable way, one that considers the sustainability of the resource for future generations and the socioeconomic and environmental impacts? In many cases this means restoring aquifers of concern to some sustainable equilibrium over a negotiated period of time, and seeking opportunities for better managing groundwater conjunctively with surface water and other resource uses. However, there are many, often-interrelated, dimensions to managing groundwater effectively. Effective groundwater management is underpinned by sound science (biophysical and social) that actively engages the wider community and relevant stakeholders in the decision making process. Generally, an integrated approach will mean “thinking beyond the aquifer”, a view which considers the wider context of surface water links, catchment management and cross-sectoral issues with economics, energy, climate, agriculture and the environment. The aim of the book is to document for the first time the dimensions and requirements of sound integrated groundwater management (IGM). The primary focus is on groundwater management within its system, but integrates linkages beyond the aquifer. The book provides an encompassing synthesis for researchers, practitioners and water resource managers on the concepts and tools required for defensible IGM, including how IGM can be applied to achieve more sustainable socioeconomic and environmental outcomes, and key challenges of IGM. The book is divided into five parts: integration overview and problem settings; governance; socioeconomics; biophysical aspects; and modelling and decision support. However, IGM is integrated by definition, thus these divisions should be considered a convenience for presenting the topics rather than hard and fast demarcations of the topic area.
Anthony J. Jakeman, Olivier Barreteau, Randall J. Hunt, Jean-Daniel Rinaudo, Andrew Ross, Muhammad Arshad, Serena Hamilton

Open Access

2. The International Scale of the Groundwater Issue
Abstract
Throughout history, and throughout the world, groundwater has been a major source of water for sustaining human life. Use of this resource has increased dramatically over the last century. In many areas of the world, the balance between human and ecosystem needs is difficult to maintain. Understanding the international scale of the groundwater issue requires metrics and analysis at a commensurate scale. Advances in remote sensing supplement older traditional direct measurement methods for understanding the magnitude of depletion, and all measurements motivate the need for common data standards to collect and share information. In addition to metrics of groundwater availability, four key international groundwater issues are depletion of water, degradation of water quality, the water-energy nexus, and transboundary water conflicts. This chapter is devoted to introducing these issues, which are also discussed in more detail in later chapters.
Michael N. Fienen, Muhammad Arshad

Open Access

3. Disentangling the Complexity of Groundwater Dependent Social-ecological Systems
Abstract
Groundwater resources are part of larger social-ecological systems. In this chapter, we review the various dimensions of these complex systems in order to uncover the diversity of elements at stake in the evolution of an aquifer and the loci for possible actions to control its dynamics. Two case studies illustrate how the state of an aquifer is embedded in a web of biophysical and sociopolitical processes. We propose here a holistic view through an IGM-scape that describes the various possible pathways of evolution for a groundwater related social-ecological system. Then we describe the elements of this IGM-scape starting with physical entities and processes, including relations with surface water and quality issues. Interactions with society bring an additional layer of considerations, including decisions on groundwater abstraction, land use changes and even energy related choices. Finally we point out the policy levers for groundwater management and their possible consequences for an aquifer, taking into account the complexity of pathways opened by these levers.
Olivier Barreteau, Yvan Caballero, Serena Hamilton, Anthony J. Jakeman, Jean-Daniel Rinaudo

Open Access

4. Groundwater Management Under Global Change: Sustaining Biodiversity, Energy and Food Supplies
Abstract
This chapter grapples with the challenge of simultaneously sustaining biodiversity, energy and food supplies in conjunction with efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Managing groundwater supplies sustainably is critical to that challenge, and the chapter assesses the positive synergies and perverse impacts for sustaining groundwater resources from both climate change mitigation and adaptation policies. The chapter finds that the pressures on groundwater resources will likely increase in the future, with the location, scale and magnitude of groundwater use shifting in response to other pressures. For example, changing energy policies are resulting in rapid deployment of thirsty technologies. Similarly, climate change adaption will increasingly rely on the water storage capacity of aquifers, yet many adaptation measures may also increase groundwater use. For better groundwater management under global change pressures we recommend a focus on complementary measures to: integrate information, deploy appropriate new technologies, apply market-based incentives and improve cross-sectoral governance. The key challenge for proponents of sustaining groundwater resources is to engage stakeholders and decision-makers outside the water sector in governance institutions.
Jamie Pittock, Karen Hussey, Andrew Stone

Open Access

5. Linking Climate Change and Groundwater
Abstract
Projected global change includes groundwater systems, which are linked with changes in climate over space and time. Consequently, global change affects key aspects of subsurface hydrology (including soil water, deeper vadose zone water, and unconfined and confined aquifer waters), surface-groundwater interactions, and water quality. Research and publications addressing projected climate effects on subsurface water are catching up with surface water studies. Even so, technological advances, new insights and understanding are needed regarding terrestrial-subsurface systems, biophysical process interactions, and feedbacks to atmospheric processes. Importantly, groundwater resources need to be assessed in the context of atmospheric CO2 enrichment, warming trends and associated changes in intensities and frequencies of wet and dry periods, even though projections in space and time are uncertain. Potential feedbacks of groundwater on the global climate system are largely unknown, but may be stronger than previously assumed. Groundwater has been depleted in many regions, but management of subsurface storage remains an important option to meet the combined demands of agriculture, industry (particularly the energy sector), municipal and domestic water supply, and ecosystems. In many regions, groundwater is central to the water-food-energy-climate nexus. Strategic adaptation to global change must include flexible, integrated groundwater management over many decades. Adaptation itself must be adaptive over time. Further research is needed to improve our understanding of climate and groundwater interactions and to guide integrated groundwater management.
Timothy Richard Green

Governance

Frontmatter

Open Access

6. Groundwater Governance in Australia, the European Union and the Western USA
Abstract
Groundwater governance can be defined as the system of formal and informal rules, rule-making systems and actor networks at all levels of society that are set up to steer societies towards the control, protection and socially acceptable utilization of groundwater resources and aquifer systems. Groundwater resources are very diverse and groundwater governance is complicated by the common pool nature of most groundwater resources, information gaps, and the diversity of stakeholders and their interests. There are few comparative studies of groundwater governance. This chapter contributes to that literature by means of a high level comparison of groundwater governance in Australia, the European Union and the Western USA. The comparison is structured using the five categories of governance issues defined in the Earth System Governance Project; architecture, access and allocation, accountability, adaptiveness, and agency – defined in this case as management organisation. The EU WFD has gone furthest towards an integrated framework to manage groundwater quantity and quality objectives, but there are many implementation challenges. Australia’s system of annually adjustable water entitlements and related water markets provides security, efficiency and flexibility but it is not yet clear how successfully environmental water allocations can be integrated within this framework. The system of prior appropriation in the Western US provides clearly defined priorities for water allocation, but lacks flexibility during extreme droughts. Fully integrated groundwater management, as intended by the WFD, is a very ambitious goal. The advantages of a strong central direction and coordination together with decentralised local management could be obtained through a decentralised system of collaborative planning and management at sub-basin scales nested within an overarching groundwater planning framework at the jurisdictional or basin scale. This system could take various forms in different countries depending on social preferences and institutional settings and capacity.
Andrew Ross

Open Access

7. Groundwater Law
Abstract
This chapter reviews fundamental legal principles relating to groundwater quantity and quality in the United States, Australia and the European Union. It also examines legal approaches to three key “integration” challenges in groundwater law, which arise in relation to many of these foundational principles. First, groundwater law must deal with the relationship between groundwater and surface water—specifically, how abstraction of one should be controlled due to impacts on the other. A second and related challenge is making legal provision for integrating groundwater with its environment, that is, making legal provision for ecological water requirements. Finally, legal frameworks face the significant challenge of dealing with groundwater management in the cross-boundary context. By comparing and contrasting approaches to common and burgeoning legal challenges across different regions, this chapter seeks to highlight the key issues that regulators and groundwater users must consider and confront in dealing with them, and a range of potential legal solutions.
Rebecca Nelson, Philippe Quevauviller

Open Access

8. Groundwater Regulation and Integrated Water Planning
Abstract
The complex nature of groundwater and the diversity of uses and environmental interactions call for emerging groundwater problems to be addressed through integrated management and planning approaches. Planning requires different levels of integration dealing with: the hydrologic cycle (the physical process) including the temporal dimension; river basins and aquifers (spatial integration); socioeconomic considerations at regional, national and international levels; and scientific knowledge. The great natural variation in groundwater conditions obviously affects planning needs and options as well as perceptions from highly localised to regionally-based approaches. The scale at which planning is done therefore needs to be carefully evaluated against available policy choices and options in each particular setting. A solid planning approach is based on River Basin Management Planning (RBMP), which covers: (1) objectives that management planning are designed to address; (2) the way various types of measures fit into the overall management planning; and (3) the criteria against which the success or failure of specific strategies or interventions can be evaluated (e.g. compliance with environmental quality standards). A management planning framework is to be conceived as a “living” or iterated document that can be updated, refined and if necessary changed as information and experience are gained. This chapter discusses these aspects, providing an insight into European Union (EU), United States and Australia groundwater planning practices.
Philippe Quevauviller, Okke Batelaan, Randall J. Hunt

Open Access

9. Conjunctive Management Through Collective Action
Abstract
This chapter focuses on the interaction between conjunctive management and collective action. Collective action has several characteristics that provide a natural ‘fit’ with conjunctive management. These include building trust and ownership to enhance water user’s acceptance of the need for better and more integrated management and resolving conflict and facilitating trade-offs between and across water users. But what are the opportunities and challenges for conjunctive management through collective action? And what types of settings encourage broad-based collective action by water users and governments? These questions are addressed through a comparative analysis of specific instances of groundwater governance in Australia, Spain, and the western United States of America. For each case, the diverse policy and institutional settings are explained, and consideration given to the motivators for, and successes of, conjunctive management and collective action. The chapter draws comparisons across the cases to suggest lessons on incentives for conjunctive management, as well as exploring its challenges, before identifying future directions for more effective integrated water management.
Cameron Holley, Darren Sinclair, Elena Lopez-Gunn, Edella Schlager

Open Access

10. The Social-Environmental Justice of Groundwater Governance
Abstract
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 equitable and reasonable utilization. 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.
Marian J. Neal (Patrick), Francesca Greco, Daniel Connell, Julian Conrad

Open Access

11. Social Justice and Groundwater Allocation in Agriculture: A French Case Study
Abstract
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.
Jean-Daniel Rinaudo, Clémence Moreau, Patrice Garin

Biophysical Aspects

Frontmatter

Open Access

12. Ecohydrology and Its Relation to Integrated Groundwater Management
Abstract
In the twentieth century, groundwater characterization focused primarily on easily measured hydraulic metrics of water storage and flows. Twenty-first century concepts of groundwater availability, 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 ecologic 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.
Randall J. Hunt, Masaki Hayashi, Okke Batelaan

Open Access

13. Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems: Classification, Identification Techniques and Threats
Abstract
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.
Derek Eamus, Baihua Fu, Abraham E. Springer, Lawrence E. Stevens

Open Access

14. Interactions of Water Quality and Integrated Groundwater Management: Examples from the United States and Europe
Abstract
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.
Kelly L. Warner, Fabienne Barataud, Randall J. Hunt, Marc Benoit, Juliette Anglade, Mark A. Borchardt

Open Access

15. Soil and Aquifer Salinization: Toward an Integrated Approach for Salinity Management of Groundwater
Abstract
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.
Richard Greene, Wendy Timms, Pichu Rengasamy, Muhammad Arshad, Richard Cresswell

Open Access

16. Managed Aquifer Recharge: An Overview of Issues and Options
Abstract
As covered in Chap. 2, 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.
Joël Casanova, Nicolas Devau, Marie Pettenati

Open Access

17. Managed Aquifer Recharge in Integrated Water Resource Management
Abstract
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.
Peter Dillon, Muhammad Arshad

Socioeconomics

Frontmatter

Open Access

18. Towards Integrated Groundwater Management in China
Abstract
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 m3/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.
Jie Liu, Chunmiao Zheng

Open Access

19. Social Science Contributions to Groundwater Governance
Abstract
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.
Allan Curtis, Michael Mitchell, Emily Mendham

Open Access

20. Lessons to Be Learned from Groundwater Trading in Australia and the United States
Abstract
This chapter provides an overview of the issues and challenges facing policy makers intending to establish groundwater markets. It studies in detail two developed countries that have introduced groundwater trading and have some experience in its implementation—Australia and the United States of America—and draws out lessons from these countries that need to be considered for the development of groundwater markets around the world. The key lessons that this chapter stresses are: the importance of establishing institutions and regulations; investing in high quality economic and scientific research; that opportunities arise from crises; and that social concerns are not always the most important considerations to be aware of for efficient and effective groundwater markets.
Sarah Ann Wheeler, Karina Schoengold, Henning Bjornlund

Open Access

21. Integrated Assessment of Economic Benefits of Groundwater Improvement with Contingent Valuation
Abstract
This chapter investigates the potential and limits of the contingent valuation method for assessing the benefits of groundwater remediation or protection programs. The discussion is based on a review of the literature and on two original contingent valuation surveys conducted in France and in Belgium, in contexts where groundwater was expected to be particularly unfamiliar to respondents. Particular attention was paid to (i) people’s perception and understanding of the resource under study, and (ii) type and quantity of information provided by the questionnaire. In both cases, we show that the population is concerned about groundwater remediation or protection, especially to guarantee the wellbeing of future generations. Overall, we highlight that assessing willingness to pay through contingent valuation surveys is helpful for conducting an integrated valuation of groundwater protection benefits. However, we also point out two main limits which might restrict the relevance of the results obtained: (1) the respondents’ limited prior knowledge of groundwater and the risk that information provided by the questionnaire biases the elicitation process; and (2) two types of embedding effect, with the difficulty for respondents in considering the geographic extension of an aquifer and disentangling benefits derived from groundwater quality improvement from other environmental benefits.
Cécile Hérivaux, Jean-Daniel Rinaudo

Open Access

22. Controlling Groundwater Exploitation Through Economic Instruments: Current Practices, Challenges and Innovative Approaches
Abstract
Groundwater can be considered as a common-pool resource, is often overexploited and, as a result, there are growing management pressures. This chapter starts with a broad presentation of the range of economic instruments that can be used for groundwater management, considering current practices and innovative approaches inspired from the literature on Common Pool Resources management. It then goes on with a detailed presentation of groundwater allocation policies implemented in France, the High Plains aquifer in the USA, and Chile. The chapter concludes with a discussion of social and political difficulties associated with implementing economic instruments for groundwater management.
Marielle Montginoul, Jean-Daniel Rinaudo, Nicholas Brozović, Guillermo Donoso

Open Access

23. Liberation or Anarchy? The Janus Nature of Groundwater Use on North Africa’s New Irrigation Frontiers
Abstract
Two contrasting views prevail on groundwater use in situations of predominantly state-led irrigation development. The first considers ‘groundwater as liberation’, i.e., how, by capturing the irrigation initiative, farmers liberated themselves from ‘state’ water, enabling more intensive and productive agriculture. The second view – ‘groundwater as anarchy’ – considers groundwater as a declining resource, overexploited by millions of individualistic farmers in the absence of effective groundwater governance with mounting inequalities in groundwater use. We analyse the Janus nature of groundwater in the expanding groundwater economy in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. Groundwater has redesigned irrigation frontiers, and caters to over 60 % of the total irrigated area, supplying more than 500,000 farms with irrigation water. However, more than half of the aquifers are overexploited, and typically only 40–50 % of farmers in a given area access groundwater. We conclude that groundwater use in North Africa cannot be qualified as anarchy, but rather as a negotiated disorder where the interests of farmers, the private sector, and the state, are continuously realigned. Groundwater ‘liberated’ farmers only partially from ‘state’ water, as the state has remained present in groundwater economies. Moreover, groundwater concerned a minority of farmers, who are often keen to get state support when facing resource depletion or harsh agricultural markets. Breaking the current conundrum will require creating space for change, by making visible the current and future effects of groundwater dynamics to local actors, and supporting the building of coalitions of actors towards a sustainable agricultural use of groundwater.
Marcel Kuper, Nicolas Faysse, Ali Hammani, Tarik Hartani, Serge Marlet, Meriem Farah Hamamouche, Fatah Ameur

Modeling and Decision Support

Frontmatter

Open Access

24. Incorporating Human Aspects into Groundwater Research and Policy Making: A Soft and Critical Systems Thinking Approach
Abstract
Groundwater management issues present a serious challenge partly because of the complexity and uncertainty that human elements (i.e. cognitive, social, cultural and political) bring into the problem, as well as our limited capacity to fully comprehend and deal with such elements and their interactions with the biophysical systems. Whereas there is a wide recognition of the importance of stakeholder participation for the design and implementation of effective policies, the ongoing depletion of groundwater and disputes surrounding management policies suggest the need for better participatory mechanisms. This raises the question of how human elements can be incorporated into groundwater policies. Whereas there is no single discipline that can provide answers for such crucial research and policy questions, this chapter argues that systems thinking (especially soft and critical approaches) has the potential to provide a framework of theories, methods and example applications to help incorporate human elements into groundwater management and research. This chapter aims to give an overview of systems thinking by firstly describing the theory, distinguishing between hard, soft and critical systems thinking approaches. Secondly, we discuss the importance of mixing methods from these approaches and evaluating ‘process’ and ‘outcomes’ when applying them. Thirdly, we review four example applications, and highlight their relevance to groundwater management systems.
Sondoss Elsawah, Joseph H. A. Guillaume

Open Access

25. Decision Support Systems and Processes for Groundwater
Abstract
Information and knowledge management challenges abound in groundwater sciences. Groundwater problems of interest to society are characteristically complex and exceed our ability to solve them without the aid of computational analysis. Yet discipline specific problems that are of interest to hydrogeologists frequently do not directly address the immediate decision making needs of policy makers, groundwater managers, and stakeholders. It is the immediate societal needs that drive the demand for science-based information for common problems in which groundwater figures as a prominent element. Integrated Assessment and Modeling (IAM) presents an approach for merging discipline and case-specific knowledge, such as those in hydrogeological sciences, with social drivers for use in decision support applications. Moreover, decision support systems (DSS) that are constructed and applied using integration as a guiding principle and design ethic can advance groundwater DSS beyond passive support toward active and, eventually, proactive support for implementations to achieve real world integrated groundwater management.
Suzanne A. Pierce, John M. Sharp Jr, David J. Eaton

Open Access

26. Integrated Groundwater Data Management
Abstract
The goal of a data manager is to ensure that data is safely stored, adequately described, discoverable and easily accessible. However, to keep pace with the evolution of groundwater studies in the last decade, the associated data and data management requirements have changed significantly. In particular, there is a growing recognition that management questions cannot be adequately answered by single discipline studies. This has led a push towards the paradigm of integrated modeling, where diverse parts of the hydrological cycle and its human connections are included. This chapter describes groundwater data management practices, and reviews the current state of the art with enterprise groundwater database management systems. It also includes discussion on commonly used data management models, detailing typical data management lifecycles. We discuss the growing use of web services and open standards such as GWML and WaterML2.0 to exchange groundwater information and knowledge, and the need for national data networks. We also discuss cross-jurisdictional interoperability issues, based on our experience sharing groundwater data across the US/Canadian border. Lastly, we present some future trends relating to groundwater data management.
Peter Fitch, Boyan Brodaric, Matt Stenson, Nate Booth

Open Access

27. Hydroeconomic Models as Decision Support Tools for Conjunctive Management of Surface and Groundwater
Abstract
Conjunctive use (CU) of surface and groundwater storage and supplies is essential for integrated water management. It is also a key strategy for supporting groundwater-dependent ecosystems, and for adapting water systems to future climate and land use changes. CU has become increasingly sophisticated and integrated with other innovative and traditional water management techniques, such as water transfers, water reuse, demand management, and aquifer remediation. CU adds value for society (increasing average yield and reliability) but can also induce costs to some parties, such as damaging senior water rights of surface water users when pumping from the aquifer reduces streamflow. Groundwater overexploitation also can produce a host of undesirable economic and environmental impacts. Successful CU implementation typically requires changes in infrastructure and operations, but also changes in institutions and institutional arrangements to offset potential third party costs and protect ecosystems. This chapter analyses first the management and economic implications of CU, addressing advantages, costs and limitations, as well as the potential contribution of economic instruments to the conjunctive operation of groundwater and surface storage and resources. CU management models are then classified according to the CU problem, their formulation and solution techniques. Different applications of hydroeconomic models are reviewed in a wide range of CU problems. A few applications are discussed more in-depth, using cases from California and Spain. Then, we discuss the relevance of these models in decision-making, and the policy and institutional implications. Finally, we address limitations and challenges, and suggest future directions.
Manuel Pulido-Velazquez, Guilherme F. Marques, Julien J. Harou, Jay R. Lund

Open Access

28. Methods for Exploring Uncertainty in Groundwater Management Predictions
Abstract
Models of groundwater systems help to integrate knowledge about the natural and human system covering different spatial and temporal scales, often from multiple disciplines, in order to address a range of issues of concern to various stakeholders. A model is simply a tool to express what we think we know. Uncertainty, due to lack of knowledge or natural variability, means that there are always alternative models that may need to be considered. This chapter provides an overview of uncertainty in models and in the definition of a problem to model, highlights approaches to communicating and using predictions of uncertain outcomes and summarises commonly used methods to explore uncertainty in groundwater management predictions. It is intended to raise awareness of how alternative models and hence uncertainty can be explored in order to facilitate the integration of these techniques with groundwater management.
Joseph H. A. Guillaume, Randall J. Hunt, Alessandro Comunian, Rachel S. Blakers, Baihua Fu
Backmatter
Metadaten
Titel
Integrated Groundwater Management
herausgegeben von
Anthony J. Jakeman
Olivier Barreteau
Randall J. Hunt
Jean-Daniel Rinaudo
Andrew Ross
Copyright-Jahr
2016
Verlag
Springer International Publishing
Electronic ISBN
978-3-319-23576-9
Print ISBN
978-3-319-23575-2
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23576-9