The role of the Spanish Committee of the International Association of Hydrogeologists in the management and protection of Spain’s groundwater resources

Spain is a relatively large European country (ca. 500,000 km2) with extensive semiarid areas in which there exists a large number of good aquifers. In some areas, these aquifers are intensively developed and are the most important sources of fresh water. Nevertheless, groundwater development and pro...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Custodio Gimena, Emilio, Llamas, Ramón, Villarroya Gil, Fermín Ignacio
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:1988
País:España
Institución:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repositorio:Docta Complutense
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/58131
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/58131
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:556.3(460)
Spain
Organizations
General hydrogeology
Groundwater management
Legislation
Hidrología
2508 Hidrología
Descripción
Sumario:Spain is a relatively large European country (ca. 500,000 km2) with extensive semiarid areas in which there exists a large number of good aquifers. In some areas, these aquifers are intensively developed and are the most important sources of fresh water. Nevertheless, groundwater development and protection has rarely been duly considered by the Spanish Water Administration, despite the pressure to remedy this situation by various groups of experts, some of them members of the Water Administration. The Spanish Committee of the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH) has been very active during the last decade in promoting activities to spread groundwater science, technology, and management in Spain and outside, mostly in Latin America, and in trying to orient water policy toward issues of groundwater. These activities include mainly the organization of technical and scientific meetings on current topics such as groundwater in the new Water Act, overexploitation, groundwater in water-resources planning, groundwater pollution, natural-recharge estimation and others. The impact of these activities on the recent water policy of Spain seems significant, and the experience gained may be applicable to other countries.