|
Descripción
|
|
|---|---|
| Groundwater is already an important insurance available to communities, agriculture and industry against drought, and the conjunctive use of surface and groundwater makes societies more drought resistant. However, groundwater is not fully integrated into the general water management plans due to limitations in monitoring systems, understanding of the processes and uncertainties about the future. Emerging technologies such as artificial recharge, aquifer storage and recovery, recharge of reclaimed wastewater, and desalination are crucial for using groundwater as a mechanism to mitigate water scarcity and drought. Groundwater can only serve this purpose effectively if it is intergrated in a flexible way with other options, such as recharge and permit of use. Achieving this intergrated role for groundwater requires institutional arrangements to go along with engineering. This paper has argued that the mediterranean region is undergoing socio-economic processes that will lead to increasing pressure over its already limited resource base. In the southern countries, these processes are driven by technological, agricultural demographic and economic factors.They pose serious threats to the sustinability of their water resources, and their ability to provide social benefits. Low per capita incomes in the rural areas, coupled with large rural populationas using agriculture with low capital and low imputs and food markets liberalization, provide the context for intensive groundwater use. The use of virtual water has provided a means to use more water embedded in imported food products. Yet, the room for further use of virtual water is hindered by the need to earn more hard-core correncieas to be able to pay for the imputs. Some of these exports can be agricultural products, taking advantage of the liberalization of the EU market, but this would further exacerbate the pressure on the resource base. | |
|
Internacional
|
Si |
|
DOI
|
|
|
Edición del Libro
|
0 |
|
Editorial del Libro
|
National Groundwater Association Press, Ohio, EEUU |
|
ISBN
|
1560341319 |
|
Serie
|
0 |
|
Título del Libro
|
The Global Importance of Groundwater in the 21st Century: Proceedings of the International Sumposium on Groundwater Sustainability |
|
Desde página
|
189 |
|
Hasta página
|
203 |