Climate change is expected to modify the hydrological cycle and affect freshwater resources. Groundwater is a critical source of fresh drinking water for almost half of the world’s population and it also supplies irrigated agriculture. Groundwater is also important in sustaining streams, lakes, wetlands, and associated ecosystems. But despite this, knowledge about the impact of climate change on groundwater quantity and quality is limited. Direct impacts of climate change on natural processes (groundwater recharge, discharge, storage, saltwater intrusion, biogeochemical reactions, chemical fate and transport) may be exacerbated by human activities (indirect impacts). Increased groundwater abstraction, for example, may be needed in areas with unsustainable or contaminated surface water resources caused by droughts and floods. Climate change effects on groundwater resources are, therefore, closely linked to other global change drivers, including population growth, urbanization and land-use change, coupled with other socio-economic and political trends. Groundwater response to global changes is a complex function that depends on climate change and variability, topography, aquifer characteristics, vegetation dynamics, and human activities. This volume contains case studies from diverse aquifer systems, scientific methods, and climatic settings that have been conducted globally under the framework of the UNESCO-IHP project Groundwater Resources Assessment under the Pressures of Humanity and Climate Change (GRAPHIC). This book presents a current and global synthesis of scientific findings and policy recommendations for scientists, water managers and policy makers towards adaptive management of groundwater sustainability under future climate change and variability.

This volume discusses climate change impacts on groundwater quality in arid and semi-arid regions, and provides human health risk assessments due to pollution of surface and groundwater. The book presents recent trends in monitoring groundwater management and implementing pollution mitigation strategies, including practices involving remote sensing and GIS techniques, entropy water quality index, weighted arithmetic water quality index, fuzzy logic applications, and improved irrigation methods. The book also outlines hydrological processes in arid and semi-arid regions and hydrochemical properties of surface and groundwater as a necessary background for understanding how pollution impacts groundwater quality and resources, and how geographical modeling of hydrological processes can aid in human health risk assessments. The book is intended for academics, administrators, policymakers, social scientists, and professionals involved in the various aspects of climate change impact on groundwater quality, hydrological process, pollution mitigation strategies, sustainable development, and environmental planning and management.

There is a general consensus that for the next few decades at least, the Earth will continue its warming. This will inevitably bring about serious environmental problems. For human society, the most severe will be those related to alterations of the hydrological cycle, which is already heavily influenced by human activities. Climate change will directly affect groundwater recharge, groundwater quality and the freshwater-seawater interface. The variations of groundwater storage inevitably entail a variety of geomorphological and engineering effects. In the areas where water resources are likely to diminish, groundwater will be one of the main solutions to prevent drought. In spite of its paramount importance, the issue of 'Climate Change and Groundwater' has been neglected. This volume presents some of the current understanding of the topic.

Water Conservation in the Era of Global Climate Change reviews key issues surrounding climate change and water resources. The book brings together experts from a variety of fields and perspectives, providing a comprehensive view on how climate change impacts water resources, how water pollution impacts climate change, and how to assess potential hazards and success stories on managing and addressing current issues in the field. Topics also include assessing policy impacts, innovative water reuse strategies, and information on impacts on fisheries and agriculture including food scarcity. This book is an excellent tool for researchers and professionals in Climate Change, Climate Services and Water Resources, and those trying to combat the impacts and issues related to Global and Planetary Change. - Covers a wide range of theoretical and practical issues related to how climate change impacts water resources and adaptation, with extended influence on agriculture, food and water security, policymaking, etc. - Reviews mathematical tools and simulations models on predicting potential hazards from climate change in such a way they can be useful to readers from a variety of levels of mathematical expertise - Examines the potential impacts on agriculture and drinking water quality - Includes case studies of successful management of water and pollutants that contribute to climate change

Climate change is likely to continue to have severe impacts, including sea level rise. At the same time, population increase and development imperatives create additional pressure on available water resources. These changes are problematic for the Mediterranean coastal areas and especially the Nile Delta coast. Particular focus of this study is on salinization of groundwater resources in the Nile Delta Aquifer (NDA) due to saltwater intrusion. To assess current conditions and develop future adaptation strategies for the NDA, a 3D model simulating regional variable-density groundwater flow and coupled salt transport was constructed based on available data set, using the SEAWAT code. A method for identification of the most representative model has been developed, based on testing different simulation periods during which the NDA has ‘evolved’ from completely fresh groundwater conditions to conditions representative for the year 2010.This model was then applied to analyze possible future NDA conditions under several predefined scenarios of sea level rise and groundwater extraction. This analysis indicated that the impacts from further extractions of groundwater on availability of fresh groundwater in the aquifer are more significant compared to those from sea level rise. Furthermore, three different adaptation measures and their impacts in the Sharkeya Nile Delta governorate were tested. It was shown that that changing crop types and irrigation practices towards water saving options seem to be more promising than artificial recharge with injection wells or extraction and usage of brackish groundwater after desalination. The developed model is useful for further Water-Food Nexus studies.

This book explains the challenges for efficient sustainable surface and groundwater development and management with the focus on India and other countries, providing a stable output presentation by using machine learning data mining methods, and modeling. It is a combination of machine learning, modeling, google earth engine, climate data modeling, remote sensing and GIS techniques, surface water modeling, AHP modeling, groundwater quality analysis, aquifer mapping, land use and land cover analysis, forecasting of water and rainfall and so on, its use to sustainable development, planning, and management of groundwater purposes in India and other countries. The main purpose of this book will develop better outlines for the development of surface and groundwater and management in the semi-arid region climate, which supports the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in India, especially on sustainable surface water and groundwater resources management. This book provides a multidisciplinary overview for the faculty members, administrators scientists, policymakers, social science, and professionals involved in the various aspects of sustainable groundwater development, planning, and management.

This book discusses how emerging groundwater risks under current and potential climate change conductions reduce available groundwater resources for domestic use, and agriculture and energy production. The topics discussed throughout this book are grouped into five sections; (i) Sea Level Rise, Climate Change, and Food Security, (ii) Emerging Contaminants, (iii) Technologies and Decision Support Systems, (iv) Surface Water-Groundwater Interactions, and (v) Economics, and Energy Production and Development. This book is unique and different from other groundwater hydrology books in that it uses a holistic approach in investigating the risks related to groundwater resources. This book will be of interest to a wide audience in academia, governmental and non-governmental organizations, and environmental entities. This book will greatly contribute to a better understanding of the emerging risks to groundwater resources and should help responsible stakeholders make informed decisions in this regard.

This book presents a unique and up-to-date summary of what is known about groundwater on our planet, from a global perspective and in terms of area-specific factual information. Unlike most textbooks on groundwater, it does not deal with theoretical principles, but rather with the overall picture that emerges as a result of countless observations,

HYDROGEOLOGY Hydrogeology: Principles and Practice provides a comprehensive introduction to the study of hydrogeology to enable the reader to appreciate the significance of groundwater in meeting current and future environmental and sustainable water resource challenges. This new edition has been thoroughly updated to reflect advances in the field since 2014 and includes over 350 new references. The book presents a systematic approach to understanding groundwater starting with new insights into the distribution of groundwater in the Earth’s upper continental crust and the role of groundwater as an agent of global material and elemental fluxes. Following chapters explain the fundamental physical and chemical principles of hydrogeology, and later chapters feature groundwater field investigation techniques in the context of catchment processes, as well as chapters on groundwater quality and contaminant hydrogeology, including a section on emerging contamination from microplastic pollution. Unique features of the book are chapters on the application of environmental isotopes and noble gases in the interpretation of aquifer evolution, and a discussion of regional characteristics such as topography, compaction and variable fluid density on geological processes affecting past, present and future groundwater flow regimes. The last chapter discusses future challenges for groundwater governance and management for the long-term sustainability of groundwater resources, including the role of managed aquifer recharge, and examines the linkages between groundwater and climate change, including impacts on cold-region hydrogeology. Given the drive to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, the interaction of groundwater in the exploitation of energy resources, including renewable resources and shale gas, is reviewed. Throughout the text, boxes and a set of colour plates drawn from the authors’ teaching and research experience are used to explain special topics and to illustrate international case studies ranging from transboundary aquifers and submarine groundwater discharge to the hydrogeochemical factors that have influenced the history of malting and brewing in Europe. The appendices provide conversion tables and useful reference material, and include review questions and exercises, with answers, to help develop the reader’s knowledge and problem-solving skills in hydrogeology. This highly informative and accessible textbook is essential reading for undergraduate and graduate students primarily in earth sciences, environmental sciences and physical geography with an interest in hydrogeology or groundwater topics. The book will also find use among practitioners in hydrogeology, soil science, civil engineering and landscape planning who are involved in environmental and resource protection issues requiring an understanding of groundwater.

This Special Issue presents the work of 30 scientists from 11 countries. It confirms that the impacts of global change, resulting from both climate change and increasing anthropogenic pressure, are huge on worldwide coastal areas (and critically so on some islands in the Pacific Ocean), with highly negative effects on coastal groundwater resources, which are widely affected by seawater intrusion. Some improved research methods are proposed in the contributions: using innovative hydrogeological, geophysical, and geochemical monitoring; assessing impacts of the changing environment on the coastal groundwater resources in terms of quantity and quality; and using modelling, especially to improve management approaches. The scientific research needed to face these challenges must continue to be deployed by different approaches based on the monitoring, modelling and management of groundwater resources. Novel and more efficient methods must be developed to keep up with the accelerating pace of global change.