Groundwater allocation determines who is able to use groundwater resources, how, when and where. It directly affects the value (economic, ecological, socio-cultural) that individuals and society obtain from groundwater, today and in the future. Building on the 2015 OECD publication Water Resources Allocation: Sharing Risks and Opportunities, this report focuses on groundwater and how its allocation can be improved in terms of economic efficiency, environmental effectiveness and social equity. Drawing on an analysis of groundwater’s distinctive features and nine case studies of groundwater allocation in a range of countries, the report provides practical policy guidance for groundwater allocation in the form of a "health check". This health check can be used to assess the performance of current arrangements and manage the transition towards improved allocation.

Groundwater allocation determines who is able to use groundwater resources, how, when and where. It directly affects the value (economic, ecological, socio-cultural) that individuals and society obtain from groundwater, today and in the future.

Groundwater management and conservation becomes a more and more important issue in the heavily urbanized coastal zones of the Asia-Pacific region. This volume presents a comprehensive overview of the status of coastal groundwater research in this diverse region. It includes latest methodologies and technologies to assess processes associated with coastal groundwater development. Case studies and local examples from a broad geographical range of continental shoreline and island settings give an understanding of the diversity of coastal aquifers and the groundwater recourses they harbour. Audience: By providing a clearer understanding of the hydrogeological and hydrochemical processes, this volume offers a critical tool to coastal researchers, geoscientists in related fields, water engineers, groundwater managers and decision makers as it illustrates the human and environmental impacts on coastal groundwater resources and the relationship to coastal zone management strategies and the development of sustainable management approaches.

Groundwater has provided great benefits to agriculture irrigation in semi-arid OECD countries, but its intensive use beyond recharge in certain regions has depleted resources and generated significant negative environmental externalities.

Increasing demand for water, higher standards of living, depletion of resources of acceptable quality, and excessive water pollution due to urban, agricultural, and industrial expansions have caused intense environmental, social, economic, and political predicaments. More frequent and severe floods and droughts have changed the ability and resiliency of water infrastructure systems to operate and provide services to the public. These concerns and issues have also changed the way we plan and manage our surface and groundwater resources. Groundwater Hydrology: Engineering, Planning, and Management presents a compilation of the state-of-the-art subjects and techniques in the education and practice of groundwater and describes them in a systematic and integrated fashion useful for undergraduate and graduate students and practitioners. The book develops a system view of groundwater fundamentals and model-making techniques through the application of science, engineering, planning, and management principles. It discusses the classical issues in groundwater hydrology and hydraulics followed by coverage of water quality issues. The authors delineate the process of analyzing data, identification, and parameter estimation; tools and model-building techniques and the conjunctive use of surface and groundwater techniques; aquifer restoration, remediation, and monitoring techniques; and analysis of risk. They touch on groundwater risk and disaster management and then explore the impact of climate change on groundwater and discuss the tools needed for analyzing future data realization and downscaling large-scale low-resolution data to local watershed and aquifer scales for impact studies. The combined coverage of engineering and planning tools and techniques as well as specific challenges for restoration and remediation of polluted aquifers sets this book apart. It also introduces basic tools and techniques for making decisions about and planning for future groundwater development activities, taking into account regional sustainability issues. An examination of the interface between groundwater challenges, the book demonstrates how to apply systems analysis techniques to groundwater engineering, planning, and management.

Social-Ecological Resilience and Sustainability by Shelley Ross Saxer and Jonathan Rosenbloom is designed to help students understand and address new, changing, and complex economic, environmental, and social systems. This book introduces resilience and sustainability as analytical frameworks and illustrates how these concepts apply in various contexts: water, food, shelter/land use, energy, natural resources, pollution, disaster law, and climate change. The first two chapters (Part I) provide students with a conceptual foundation to explore the interdisciplinary nature of resilience and sustainability and the meanings of, complexities embedded in, and the overlap and differences between these frameworks. Each of the remaining eight chapters (Part II) views resilience and sustainability in a specific law and policy context. Strategically placed throughout Part II, the authors describe eight useful tools — “Strategies to Facilitate Implementation”—to help identify, assess, integrate, or utilize resilience and sustainability as analytical frameworks. Key Features: A two-part approach that first provides students with a conceptual foundation and then allows students to view resilience and sustainability in eight law and policy contexts (described above) Numerous graphics throughout to illustrate concepts, depict events described, and otherwise enliven the content Case studies that examine human decisions that led to unsustainable and non-resilient systems and societies New and innovative ways to explain complex systems and in turn rethink traditional notions of law and policy

Delegates to the 3rd International Conference on Environmental and Economic Impact on Sustainable Development contributed the peer-reviewed papers contained in this book. The papers discuss the most serious problems affecting sustainable development. They consider the impact of economic constraints on the environment, taking into account the social aspects as well as the over-use of natural resources. Uncontrolled development can also result in damage to the environment in terms of the release of toxic substances and hazardous waste. Thus, attention is paid to issues related to whether some forms of development are compatible with environmental protection, particularly in cases of possible serious contamination and toxicity. The focus in the book is on more constructive and progressive approaches to the problems discussed, to ensure sustainability. The hope is that through the shared experiences of experts, we can learn from past failure, to avoid repeating similar mistakes, while attempting to prevent emerging threats to the environmental and ecological systems. Fundamental to these concepts are an analysis of the inherent risks and the development of appropriate strategies. The papers in this book cover such topics as: Environmental assessments; Environmental policies and planning; Water resources management; Natural resources management; Legislation and regulations; Development issues; Economic impact.