Climate Change and Groundwater: Planning and Adaptations for a Changing and Uncertain Future

This book attempts to bridge the gap between the climate change research and decision-making communities by exploring the impacts of climate change on groundwater from a more applied perspective. Global climate change will impact groundwater demands, quality, and available supplies, and rising sea level may cause water tables to rise, inundating low-lying coastal areas. Groundwater will increasingly be needed to perform a stabilization role in mitigating fluctuations in the supply of surface waters, serving as a buffer against droughts. Climate change has become a frequent subject in the mass media, and the academic literature on the subject is now enormous. An impediment to climate change adaptation with respect to water is a poor link between the climate change research community and the actual decision-makers responsible for water supply planning. Key issues explored are methods for evaluating potential impacts on climate change on local groundwater systems, the adaptation of decision-making process, and how climate change adaptation can be mainstreamed into the water supply planning.

Dr. Maliva has held research positions at the University of Cambridge, England, and the University of Miami, Florida, and has been Consulting hydrogeologist since 1992. Dr. Maliva is Principal Hydrogeologist with WSP specializing in alternative water supply projects. He is the senior author of four books, “Aquifer Storage and Recovery and Managed Aquifer Recharge Using Wells: Planning, Hydrogeology, Design, and Operation”, “Arid Lands Water Evaluation and Management”, “Aquifer Characterization, and Anthropogenic Aquifer Recharge” and has published numerous peer-reviewed technical papers on many aspects of geology and hydrogeology. He is also a guest faculty member at Florida Gulf Coast University.