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Groundwater in the Environment: An Introduction

ISBN: 978-1-405-12143-9

July 2006

Wiley-Blackwell

336 pages

Description
This accessible new textbook provides a thorough introduction to all aspects of groundwater systems and their management. Using straightforward language and analogies to everyday experiences, it explains the origins, nature, and behavior of subsurface water without resorting to complicated mathematics.

Groundwater in the Environment draws on case studies and cutting-edge research from around the world, giving a unique insight into groundwater occurring in a wide range of different climate zones and geological settings. This book:

  • provides a robust, practical introduction to groundwater quality, and a succinct summary of modern remedial technologies for polluted groundwaters
  • explores how groundwater fits into the wider natural environment, especially in relation to freshwater ecosystems
  • considers the vulnerability of groundwater systems and the effects of pollution, climate change, land-use change, and overexploitation
  • examines human dependence on water and the effect that this has on groundwater systems
  • presents vivid examples of geohazards associated with ground waters
  • explains the whys and wherefores of groundwater modeling
  • examines competing philosophies of groundwater management, making the case for approaches which take social, economic and ecological issues into account.

Goundwater in the Environment provides an up-to-date, essential introduction for undergraduate students of environmental sciences, geography and geology. It will also be invaluable to professionals working in various fields of natural resource management who need accessible information on groundwater but who are reluctant to read conventional texts full of mathematical notation. For practicing hydrogeologists and engineers without formal training in freshwater ecology, this book provides a `crash course' in the new frontiers of groundwater management.

Artwork from the book is available to instructors online at www.blackwellpublishing.com/younger. An Instructor manual CD-ROM for this title is available. Please contact our Higher Education team at [email protected] for more information.

About the Author
Paul L. Younger (PhD C.Geol. C.Eng.) is HSBC Professor of Environmental Technologies at the University of Newcastle, United Kingdom, where he directs water research within the Institute for Research on Environment and Sustainability, and is also a Director of the leading groundwater control contracting company, Project Dewatering Ltd. His groundwater engineering experience spans more than 20 years and six continents, ranging from hand-digging water wells with indigenous communities in the Americas, through sophisticated numerical modelling of pollutant migration in aquifers, to the design of novel remediation systems for extremely contaminated groundwaters.
Features

  • Provides a thorough introduction to all aspects of groundwater systems and their management.

  • Uses straightforward language to explain the origins, nature and behaviour of subsurface water.

  • Draws on case studies and cutting-edge research from around the world.

  • Assumes little mathematical experience.

  • Topics include groundwater quality, groundwater ecology and the wider natural environment, the vulnerability of groundwater systems, geohazards associated with ground waters, and competing philosophies of groundwater management.

  • An up-to-date, essential introduction for undergraduate students of environmental sciences, geography and geology.