Urban Groundwater - Meeting the Challenge

About this book

During the past three decades, urban groundwater has emerged as one of the world's most pressing issues. Explosive population growth, most prevalent in cities, has placed an inordinate demand on groundwater supply, prompting concerns for its long-term sustainability at a time when the quality of available groundwater resources is being increasingly degraded by anthropogenic activity. Cities less reliant on groundwater for potable supply are equally obliged to manage subsurface water with cautious respect since rising groundwater levels can generate a myriad of problems such as unstable land slopes, flooded basements, tunnels and electrical utilities, and the release of polluted water to urban wetlands, springs and streams.

"Challenges in Urban Groundwater" is premised on a growing recognition that most urban groundwater problems are not uniquely associated with any particular region or hydrogeological environment, and much can be learned by understanding the successes and failures of others. It showcases the best urban groundwater papers presented at the International Geological Congress held in Florence, Italy in 2004, and is supplemented by contributions solicited from other world experts active in urban groundwater research. Topics covered range from the urban water balance and rising groundwater levels to groundwater contamination and the role of aquifer modelling.

Contents

Introduction Preface: Matthias Eiswirth Memorial RECHARGE MECHANISMS AND THE URBAN WATER BALANCE 1. Urban-enhanced groundwater recharge: review and case study of Austin, Texas, USA 2. Flow and solute transport monitoring at an urban lysimeter at Union Brewery, Ljubljana, Slovenia 3. Urban infrastructure and its impact on groundwater contamination 4. Urban groundwater problems in Cork city, southwest Ireland SEWER EXFILTRATION 5. Impact on urban groundwater by wastewater infiltration into soils 6. Direct measurements of exfiltration in a sewer test site in a medium-sized city in southwest Germany 7. Upscaling of laboratory results on sewer leakage and the associated uncertainty ASSESSMENT OF CONTAMINANT IMPACTS 8. Groundwater flow velocities indicated by anthropogenic contaminants in urban sandstone aquifers 9. Development of a GIS model for assessing groundwater pollution from small scale petrol spills 10. Assessment of groundwater contaminant vulnerability in an urban watershed in southeast Michigan, USA 11. Xenobiotics in urban areas - investigation and estimation of chemical fluxes URBAN RECHARGE MANAGEMENT 12. Conjunctive use of urban surface water and groundwater for improved urban water security 13. Stormwater infiltration technologies for augmenting groundwater recharge in urban areas 14. Aspects of urban groundwater management and use in India URBAN AQUIFER MANAGEMENT 15. Evaluating groundwater allocation alternatives in an urban setting using a geographic information system data model 16. Can urban groundwater problems be transformed into new water resources? 17. Hydraulic Interactions between aquifers in the Viterbo area (Central Italy) 18. Alarming rise in groundwater levels beneath the city of Jodphur: an example of ground and surface water interaction in the Thar Desert of western India 19. Groundwater modelling to evaluate the risk of aquifer depletion due to a construction site in an urban area in Basel, Switzerland 20. Urban groundwater resources: a case study of Porto city in northwest Portugal 21. Water resources management in Taiz, Yemen: a comprehensive overview Index

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Biography

University of Toronto at Scarborough, Toronto, Canada