Groundwater Management Trends

Groundwater is in many regions of the world a resource widely and extensively used and very often over-abstracted, but groundwater aquifer management and basic monitoring is not really implemented in most of the developing world and even the developed one. Downward trends are recorded at the local and even regional levels where groundwater resources are used. However, because many groundwater systems have not been explored and assessed sufficiently and systematically and variations in time of the groundwater conditions are monitored only occasionally, there is no basis for proper management planning and resource use allocation. Very likely, the situation will only improve gradually over time and much more emphasis will be given to surface waters despite groundwater use being as essential in many regions of the world.