Groundwater Use: Equilibrium Between Social Benefits And Potential Environmental Costs

In many countries groundwater resources are under-appreciated and, therefore, underutilizied; whereas, in some areas they are inappropriately exploited and, therefore, over-utilized. “Over utilization” can lead to depletion in quantity or a degradation in quality or both. Obstacles to effective management include: (1) lack of knowledge of basic principles of groundwater science among water planners, (2) in many, if not in most countries, ownership of groundwater is in the private domain with the result that codependence is unrecognized, and (3) a misunderstanding by water planners of the concepts of “overexploitation%rdquo; and conjunctive use. The economic, social, and hydrologic constraints and procedures for management for sustainable development of groundwater are significantly different from those for surface water because these differences result from such things as (1) groundwater development is not dependent on large scale collective projects (unlike the utilization of surface water that requires engineering structures for diverting, regulating and transporting water), (2) the activities of many different groups can affect the quality of water, and (3) users of groundwater often are not aware of their co-dependence on the groundwater heritage in which each participates. Hydrogeologists should try to identify those governmental policies that have a detrimental environmental effect, promote those policies that are beneficial, and demonstrate the need for a policy in matters where a policy is lacking.     

Groundwater management in France

Groundwater, like other extensive natural and renewable resources, easily accessible and, at the same time, vulnerable, has to be managed so as to reconcile the unique resource with its many users, and its long-term preservation with short-term utilization requirements. Under the natural, legal, and economic conditions prevailing in France, where groundwater constitutes a large part of water production and resources, where there are tens of thousands of economic developers and users of a few hundred natural groundwater management units, such management concerns these users as well as the public and collective authorities that control the users' activities for the common present and future good of all. Legislative, financial, and educational means are applied simultaneously to preserve and protect the quality and quantily of the groundwater and at times to encourage its use and stimulate its development.