This book will provide a comprehensive discussion of groundwater sustainability, including what it is, how its definition has changed over time, why traditional assessments of it are wrong, how assessments of it are ideally multidisciplinary efforts recognizing that policy is more controlling of outcomes than science, and why achieving it is difficult once pumping exceeds sustainable levels of pumping. The book will provide a nontechnical background of hydrogeology relevant to groundwater sustainability and present several case studies from around the United States and the world.
The book has been designed to appeal to academics, students, and practitioners. Academics, particularly those just getting into the subject, will find the book a useful entry in terms of management concepts and political realities of attempting to achieve groundwater sustainability. It will also be useful to academics in that the book will include discussions on the history and development of groundwater sustainability and the practical aspects of aspiring to and achieving sustainable production. Although not a textbook, the book could be used as the basis for teaching a course or as a supplement to a hydrogeology or groundwater management class. Accordingly, the book will include questions and additional reading materials at the end of each chapter. This book will also be useful to practitioners through non-technical explanations of the sciences, discussions of the nuances of defining sustainability in aquifers, and the presentation of case studies where sustainable management has failed and succeeded.
Author(s): Robert E. Mace
Series: Palgrave Studies in Environmental Sustainability
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 287
City: Cham
Acknowledgments
Contents
List of Figures
1: The Importance of Groundwater Sustainability
The Importance of Groundwater
Purpose
I Come from Texas!
Policy and Science
Organization
Questions
References
2: Water Through a Stone
What Is an Aquifer?
Flow Through an Aquifer
Recharge
Water Levels
Permeability
Groundwater Flow
Unconfined and Confined Aquifers
Geology of Aquifers
At the End of the Flow System
Questions
References
3: Domesticating Groundwater
Enhancing Springs
Sinking Wells
Building Qanats
Drilling Wells
Elevating Water
Wind for Water
Centrifugal Forces
Groundwater in Storage
Water-Level Declines from Production
Impacts of Water-Level Declines
The Bottom of the Borehole
Questions
References
4: From Safe Yield to Where?
Safe Yield
Firming Up Safe Yield
The Unbearable Ambiguity of Safe Yield
The First 50 Years
Questions
References
5: The Paradox of Safe Yield
Groundwater Mining
The Dismal March of the Economists
The Bottom Line
Questions
References
6: The Rising Waters of Groundwater Sustainability
Safe Yield and the Environment
The Shift to Sustainability
How Long Is Forever?
The Water Budget Myth
The Unbearable Ambiguity of Sustainability
Today Is the First Day of Forever
Questions
References
7: Groundwater Governance and Sustainability
Groundwater Governance
Actors
Legal Frameworks
Rule of Capture
Reasonable Use
Correlative Rights
Prior Appropriation
Second Restatement of Torts
Policies
Information and Knowledge
Groundwater Management
Groundwater Governance for Sustainability
Questions
References
8: Pathways to Groundwater Sustainability
That’s Unacceptable
Groundwater Sustainability Typologies
Hydrologically Forced: The Leon-Belding Aquifer in West Texas
Hydrologically Forced (and Legislatively Nudged): The Great Artesian Basin of Australia
Legislatively Forced: California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act
Legislatively Forced: Namibia, Africa
Court Forced: The San Antonio Segment of the Edwards Aquifer
Legislatively Forced: The Albian Aquifer of the Paris Basin, France
Desire Driven: The Barton Springs Segment of the Edwards Aquifer
Hydrologically Forced and De Facto: The Laugarnes Geothermal System in Reykjavik, Iceland
De Facto: Val Verde County, Texas
Strategies for Sustainability
We’ll Know the Worth of Water Before the Well Runs Dry
Questions
References
9: Groundwater Will Be Produced Sustainably Whether We Like It or Not
Keeping It Safe
Twice Bitten, Once Shy
Questions
References
Glossary
References
References
Index
