Proposal of Groundwater Governance Indexes: Application to Nine Spanish Aquifers

E. Custodio, M. C. Cabrera (), D. Sánchez-García, A. de la Hera-Portillo, J. L. García-Aróstegui, J. Jódar, S. Martos-Rosillo, L. O. Puga and E. Queralt
Additional contact information
E. Custodio: Royal Academy of Sciences of Spain
M. C. Cabrera: University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC)
D. Sánchez-García: Cetaqua-Water Technology Centre
A. de la Hera-Portillo: Instituto Geológico y Minero de España (IGME), CSIC
J. L. García-Aróstegui: Instituto Geológico y Minero de España (IGME), CSIC
J. Jódar: Instituto Geológico y Minero de España (IGME), CSIC
S. Martos-Rosillo: Instituto Geológico y Minero de España (IGME), CSIC
L. O. Puga: Hydrogeological Consulting
E. Queralt: Comunitat d’Usuaris d’Aigües de la Vall Baixa del Delta del Llobregat (CUADLL)

Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), 2025, vol. 39, issue 7, No 9, 3129-3147

Abstract: Abstract Groundwater management and governance have properties related to the long renewal time, evapo-concentration processes in the soil and interaction with the rock, and dispersion, mixing and degradation of possible contaminants. Groundwater is part of the hydrologic balance, with specific properties and different behaviours from that of surface water, although there are interconnected. These differences also appear in other aspects related to economy, society, norms and administration, and to water ethics and morality. These differences are not always taken into account by water managers and decision makers. A methodology is being used to evaluate quantitatively groundwater management and sound governance. A score of themes are classified into aspects and categories, including hydrogeological knowledge, administration and socio-economics aspects. Three indexes are presented, the most developed of them correcting reserve depletion, unavoidable discharges and legal restrictions. The proposed indexes were tested in nine pilot areas in Spain, representing different circumstances, scales and environmental conditions. The discussion refers to aquifers and aquifer systems, considering the corresponding groundwater bodies and their quantitative and chemical status. It is not possible to condense the reality into one or a few figures. Comparisons have to be considered cautiously as a broad guide, with possible notable deviations, especially considering the groundwater average renewal time. There is not a well-defined correlation between groundwater management - governance evaluation and groundwater body’s status, but they have some common aspects that are relevant to improve groundwater management and governance.

Keywords: Groundwater Governance Indexes; Water Management; Semiarid Stressed Areas; Groundwater Average Renewal time; Spain (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11269-025-04100-1 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:waterr:v:39:y:2025:i:7:d:10.1007_s11269-025-04100-1

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11269

DOI: 10.1007/s11269-025-04100-1

Access Statistics for this article

Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA) is currently edited by G. Tsakiris

More articles in Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA) from Springer, European Water Resources Association (EWRA)
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().