Impacts of Decreasing Recharge Rates on Sustainable Groundwater Management

摘要

Groundwater is a vital resource for living and food security for at least two billion people worldwide. Ever increasing demand on groundwater has led to overexploitation of the aquifers and degradation of groundwater quality. Climate change will exacerbate these problems by producing reduced recharge rates in some areas, more reliance on groundwater resources due to decrease in reliability of surface waters, farther inland penetration of saltwater intrusion in response to both sea-level rise and excessive groundwater extraction and deterioration of groundwater quality by increased flushing of urban and agricultural waste due to more frequent flooding. These problems emerged the concern about the sustainable management of groundwater so that it is not depleted while the increasing demand is satisfied under the pressures exerted by the climate change. This paper examines one of the most significant consequences of climate change, decreasing recharge rates, on the sustainable management of groundwater resources using a hypothetical case study.