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Impact of Human Activity on Groundwater DynamicsEdited by Hans Gehrels, Norman E. Peters, Eduard Hoehn,
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Human activities are intricately linked to the evolution and dynamics of groundwater quantity and quality. Given the alarming rate of land-use change globally, it is important to understand the linkages between land-use change and groundwater dynamics, as land use affects the quantity and chemical quality of recharge water. The recharge directly determines the natural dynamic behaviour of the groundwater system, and is (hence) often the most important driving force in groundwater systems. In many areas, groundwater is the major source of surface water, and in others, surface water infiltration is a major source of recharge. Consequently, understanding the interaction of groundwater and surface water is important to the understanding of groundwater dynamics. Geochemical aquifer characteristics also have to be quantified to enable prediction of both the movement and contamination of groundwater.
In this book, the impact of a number of human activities on groundwater dynamics and resources, such as urbanization, land-use change and groundwater contamination is evaluated. In addition, several hydrological processes that need to be known to adequately assess the impact of these activities, such as methods for quantifying recharge, for geochemical characterization of aquifers, and for the modelling of contamination transport, are investigated.
The volume is a compilation of 53 papers presented at a symposium at Maastricht (Sixth IAHS General Assembly, July 2001), which was jointly convened by the IAHS International Commissions on Water Quality, Groundwater, Water Resources Systems, Tracers, Atmosphere–Soil–Vegetation Relations, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), The book is subdivided into five themes :
