Sustainability of Groundwater Resources and its Indicators (Proceedings of symposium S3 held during the Seventh IAHS Scientific Assembly at Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, April 2005). IAHS Publ. 302, 2006, 3-9.

 

Groundwater resources sustainability indicators

 

Jaroslav Vrba1, Ricardo Hirata2, Jan Girman3, Naim Haie4, Annukka Lipponen5, Bhanu Neupane6, Tushaar Shah7 & Bill Wallin8

1       IAH Groundwater Protection Commission, Korandova 32, Prague, 14700, Czech Republic

javr@mymail.cz

2       IAH, Institute of Geosciences, University of Sao Paulo, Rua do Lago, 562, CEP 05508-080, São Paulo, Brazil

3       Department Water Affairs & Forestry, Private Bag X313, Pretoria 0001, South Africa

4       Civil Eng. Department, University of Minho, Campus of Azurem, 4800-058, Guimarães, Portugal

5       UNESCO, Science Sector, Division of Water Sciences, 1, rue Miollis, F-75732 Paris Cedex 15, France

6       UNESCO, Science Sector, WWAP, 1, rue Miollis, F-75732 Paris Cedex 15, France

7       Sustainable Ground Water Management, International Water Management Institute Regional Office for India, Elecon, Anand-Sojitra Road, Vllabh Vidyanagar 388 001, Gujarat, India

8       Isotope Hydrology Section, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Wagramer Strasse, 5, PO Box 100, A-1400 Vienna, Austria

 

Abstract The UNESCO/IAEA/IAH Working Group on Groundwater Resources Sustainability Indicators has been charged with the development of the following activities under the International Hydrological Programme (sixth phase): to prepare a list of groundwater indicators that can be computed at the national and global level, to develop indicator profiles and capacity building materials and to work with case study countries to implement groundwater indicators. In the proposed list of 10 groundwater indicators each of them describes a specific aspect of the groundwater system and/or processes, and is based on aggregation of selected variables, both quantitative and qualitative. Indicators are focused on social, economic and environmental aspects of groundwater resources policy and management, and act as an important communication tool for planners, policy-makers and the public. A balanced scientific and policy-based approach has been employed in deriving ground­water indicators. A DPISR framework was applied in finalizing the set of groundwater indicators.

 

Key words  groundwater; groundwater quality; indicator; sustainability management; vulnerability; water demand