Groundwater Resilience Assessment in a Communal Coastal Aquifer System. The Case of Manglaralto in Santa Elena, Ecuador

Gricelda Herrera-Franco, Paúl Carrión-Mero, Maribel Aguilar-Aguilar, Fernando Morante-Carballo, María Jaya-Montalvo and M.C. Morillo-Balsera
Additional contact information
Gricelda Herrera-Franco: Facultad de Ciencias de la Ingeniería, Universidad Estatal Península de Santa Elena (UPSE), Avda. Principal La Libertad–Santa Elena, La Libertad 240204, Ecuador
Paúl Carrión-Mero: Campus Gustavo Galindo, Centro de Investigaciones y Proyectos Aplicados a las Ciencias de la Tierra (CIPAT), Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, ESPOL Polytechnic University, P.O. Box 09-01-5863 Guayaquil, Ecuador
Maribel Aguilar-Aguilar: Campus Gustavo Galindo, Centro de Investigaciones y Proyectos Aplicados a las Ciencias de la Tierra (CIPAT), Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, ESPOL Polytechnic University, P.O. Box 09-01-5863 Guayaquil, Ecuador
Fernando Morante-Carballo: Campus Gustavo Galindo, Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, ESPOL, Geo-Recursos y Aplicaciones GIGA, ESPOL Polytechnic University, P.O. Box 09-01-5863 Guayaquil, Ecuador
María Jaya-Montalvo: Junta Administradora de Agua Potable Regional de Manglaralto (JAAPMAN), Manglaralto 241754, Ecuador
M.C. Morillo-Balsera: Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Topografía, Geodesia y Cartografía, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 19, 1-27

Abstract: Resilience has several meanings, among them the ability to overcome difficulty and return to the state of providing service, even if the initial conditions change. Assessing resilience in an ecosystem, or any system, requires a concise methodology with standard variables and parameters. The current challenge presented by coastal areas is focused on overcoming problems related to the water supply through correct management. This paper aims to evaluate the communal coastal aquifer system with a matrix for assessing water resilience based on indicators in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a socio-hydrological framework and the four axes of development (political, social, environmental, and cultural), to promote the development of new strategies for water sustainability. The method is based on (i) political, economic, social, environmental, and even cultural aspects involved in sustainable water management and (ii) the groundwater resilience assessment method (GRAM) design. The GRAM is used for a quasi-quantitative assessment of the resilience in a communal coastal aquifer system. This method was applied to the Manglaralto community; the results show a highly resilient groundwater system (62.33/100 points). Representatives of the community have achieved appropriate use, management, and conservation of the water resource by applying water harvesting and other technical criteria. Hence, they have avoided aquifer overexploitation and provided water to the community.

Keywords: resilience assessment; groundwater; coastal aquifer; rural community; Sustainable Development Goals and indicators (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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