Agricultural Impacts on Groundwater: Processes, Modelling and Decision Support

Agriculture, like other economic activities, can have negative impacts on the environment and on groundwater in particular, with consequences for human health as well as the environment (FAO, 1979, 1996). On the one hand, the use of groundwater by agriculture can cause quantitative resource depletion and qualitative deterioration due to overuse or misuse, such as encroaching saltwater and salinization in coastal areas. On the other hand, the recharge of aquifers with water leached out from cultivated fields can lead to water pollution by agrochemicals (fertilizers and pesticides). Of the many types of compounds that can contaminate soils and groundwaters, those most closely associated with agricultural practices, and whose impacts will be discussed in depth in this contribution, are nutrients, pesticides and salt.