1. GROUNDWATER
RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

2. 2
What is IWRM?
An approach that promotes coordinated
development & management of:
 land and water
 surface water and groundwater
 river basins (and their adjacent environments)
 upstream and downstream user-interests.
ITGRATED WATER RESOURCES
MANAGEMENT

3. An approach:
 That identifies the need to consider
different uses of water together – that
different water uses are interdependent.
What is IWRM? (contd.)

4.  In IWRM, water allocations &
management decisions consider the effects
of each use on the others.
 IWRM’s GOAL is sustainable
development & management of water
resources.
4
What is IWRM? (contd.)

5. Water Management Principles
Water has an
economic value in
all its competing
uses and should
be recognised as
an economic
good.
Fresh water is a
finite &
vulnerable
resource, essential
to sustain life,
development &
the environment.
Water development
and management
should be based on a
participatory
approach, involving
users, planners and
policymakers at all
levels.
Women play a
central part in
the provision,
management and
safeguarding of
water.
The Dublin principles have been the basis for much
of the subsequent water sector reform.

6.  is based on Dublin principles & three pillars
driving sustainability – Economic-efficiency,
Environmental-sustainability + social-Equity –
and 3 change areas
6
M
anagem
ent Instrum
ents
Ecosystem Sustainability
Social Equity
Economic Efficiency
M
anagem
ent Instrum
ents
Institutional Roles
Policy
Legislation
Regulation
Aquifer &
River Basin
Central-Local
Public-private
Assessment
Information
Allocation tools
Enabling
Environment
Financing &
Incentive
Structure
General Framework

7. 7
THE ENABLING ENVIRONMENT
1 Policies – setting goals for water use, protection and conservation.
2 Legislative framework – the rules to enforce to achieve policies and goals.
3 Financing & incentive structures – allocating financial resources to meet water needs.
INSTITUTIONAL ROLES
4 Creating an organizational framework – forms and functions.
5 Institutional capacity building – developing human resources.
MANAGEMENT INSTRUMENTS
6 Water resources assessment – understanding resources and needs.
7 Plans for IWRM – combining development options, resource use and human interaction.
8 Demand management – using water more efficiently.
9 Social change instruments – encouraging a water-oriented civil society.
10 Conflict resolution – managing disputes, ensuring sharing of water.
11 Regulatory instruments – allocation and water use limits.
12 Economic instruments – using value and prices for efficiency and equity.
13 Information management & exchange– improving knowledge for better water management.
IWRM change Areas

8. Groundwater Resource management
 Increasing water demands in urban
and rural areas
 Increasing contamination of the
resource due to urban, industrial
and agricultural expansion
 These brought an increasing
pressures on the use of
groundwater
 Groundwater forms an integral
part of the water cycle
It is essential to properly manage these resources to guarantee
their long term sustainability and to preserve water quality

9. DEFINITION OF GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT
 California Department of Water Resources (DWR) Bulletin 118 (2003)
defines “groundwater management” as “the planned and coordinated
management of a groundwater basin with a goal of long-term
sustainability of the resource.”
 A “groundwater management plan” is defined as a “comprehensive
written document developed for the purpose of groundwater
management and adopted by an agency having appropriate legal and
statutory authority.”
 A “groundwater management program,” can be defined as a coordinated
and ongoing activity undertaken for the benefit of a groundwater basin,
pursuant to a groundwater management plan.

10. Groundwater Management Objectives
 The management objective consists of providing an economic and continuous water
supply to meet a usually growing demand from an groundwater resource of
which only a small portion is perennially renewable.
 To protect the resources from quality degradation, and
 Managing groundwater resources primarily aims at sustainable development of the
resource through:
Balancing recharge into basin storage (groundwater resource) with discharges for
economic, environmental & human benefits.
 In a broad sense, sustainable use of groundwater resources can be defined as that
level of use that does not cause unacceptable long-term consequences.

11. 11
Human Benefits
Economic Benefits Environmental Benefits
Aquifer Storage (groundwater resource)
SUSTAINABLE GROUNDWATER DEVELOPMENT
Artificial
Recharge
(irrigation losses,
wastewater
returns)
Natural
Recharge
(excess rainfall,
surface water
seepage)
Indirect
Recharge
(aquitard leakage,
cross-formational
flow)
Water for
development
Groundwater
abstraction
(agriculture &
Industry)
Water for
Environment
Grdwater discharge
(Springs, surface
water, wetlands,
coastal zone)
Water for
People
Grdwater supply
(drinking water &
Sanitation and
livelihood)
Sustainable
groundwater
development
modified
from
Hiscock,
2002.
Groundwater Management (contd.)

12. .....sustainable development of groundwater thru’:
 Protection of groundwater from pollution
 controlled pumping to prevent declining well
yield/quality
 Transformation from vicious circle to virtuous
circle
12
Groundwater Management (contd.)

13. supply
driven
management.......
Unrestricted
Demand
+
Unregulated
Resources
Water & land-use
behaviour worsen
Dissatisfaction of
water-users
increases
Aquifer system/
groundwater
resources impacted
Quality and quantity
deteriorated
Increasing demand + Contaminant
Load
Reliable supply reducing with increasing
cost
Groundwater Management (contd.)

14. 14
Management function/
instruments
Enabling
Environment
Acceptable demand + contaminant load
Monitoring
Resource
Evaluation
Resource
Allocation
Hazard
Assessment
Pollution
control
Economic
Instruments
Policy
framework
Regulatory
Framework
Definition of
Water Rights
Stakeholder
Participation
Water &
land use
efficient
Water-users
Satisfied
Aquifer
system/
grdwater
resources
protected
Quality &
quantity
stabilize
.....versus
integrated
groundwater
management Groundwater Management (contd.)
Secure supply at reasonable cost

15. 15
Dimensions of groundwater
management
Managing groundwater has two important
dimensions, namely:
Hydrologic dimension – management of
aquifer resources, which is also referred to
as supply-side management
Socio-economic dimension – managing
people (water & land uses), which is also
referred to as demand-side management.

16. GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT INVESTIGATION
 Groundwater management studies are usually undertaken by local government
agencies.
1. Preliminary Examination – based largely on judgment by experienced personnel,
this study identifies the management possibilities of meeting a defined need for a
specified area.
2. Reconnaissance – This study considers possible alternatives in the formulation of
a water management plan to meet a defined need for an area, including
estimates of benefits and costs. The investigation draws on available data and
generally necessitates a minimum of new data collection.
3. Feasibility – This study requires detailed engineering, hydrogeologic, and
economic analyses together with coast and benefit estimates to ensure that the
selected project is an optimum development

17. Sequence of activities during a feasibility investigation for groundwater
management
Projecting Future water demands
Surface and subsurface exploration
Assessment of water resources
Capability of extraction and recharge facilities
Aquifer boundary conditions
Legal and organizational considerations
Alternative plans for water
resources management
Report on the investigation
(Todd, 1980)

18. Table . Types of data required for groundwater management
(GW-MATE, 2006)

19. Need for groundwater
management
Even though groundwater is mostly a dynamic
resource continuously replenished by the
hydrologic cycle, uncontrolled abstraction will
lead to unsustainable situation
Therefore there should be a scale of abstraction
that will not affect the groundwater system
adversely
Determination of an appropriate scale of
abstraction is a complex task that needs the
balance between the different demands and
groundwater recharge

20. Scale of abstraction effects
 Groundwater budget is one potential way of estimating the change in storage
 The level of the water table can naturally change over time due to changes in
weather cycles and precipitation patterns, streamflow and geologic changes,
and even human-induced changes
 A change in the water level of any well is a measure of a change in storage
in the ground-water reservoir.
 A rising water level in a well represents an increase in storage and a
declining water level represents a decrease in storage in the ground-water
reservoir.
 The pumping of wells can have a great deal of influence on water levels below
ground.
 Excessive pumping can lower the water table so much that the wells no longer
supply water
 Change in Groundwater Storage
Consequences of Mismanagement of Groundwater resource

21. Aynalem well field
 Data collected from Mekelle water supply office in the
past indicate that the water demand of the population has
increased from 7000 m3 /day in the year (2002) to 30,000
m3/day in the year (2011).
Consequences of Mismanagement
of Groundwater resource
 Depletion: Excessive declining of the dynamic
water level or pizeometric level sometimes
leading to abandoning of groundwater supply
infrastructure: (wells, access pipes, reservoirs,
etc). (e.g. Aynalem well field).

22.  Groundwater abstraction from Aynalem Well Field was
found to increase continuously in the past few years,
mainly because of an increase in demand
0
500000
1000000
1500000
2000000
2500000
3000000
3500000
4000000
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
Year
Annual
production
(m3)
Average
production(m3)

23. Decline of water level with
time

24. 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1998 2002 2003 2004
Pw2
Pw3
Pw6
PW7
PW11
PW12
Decline of water level with time

25.  PW4 is one of the well
in Aynalem well field
its yield has been
reported to decrease
from 22 l/s to 3 l/s

26.  Some wells are
getting dry with a
possible reason of
groundwater mining.
This wells are
disconnected from
the main system

27. Decline in groundwater level in Akaki well field
(AAWSA, 2005)

28. Ecological Impact: Declining or drying of
surface water bodies which have a
hydraulic linkage with aquifers which are
excessively pumped. (e.g. Lake
Haramaya)

29. Haromaya lake
 The lake had a maximum and mean depth of 8 m and 3.13 m
respectively covering a surface area of 47.9 km2 some years
ago. Now the lake is completely dry. Groundwater is an average
3 meters below the dried lake bed
Haromaya

30. Hand dug wells in the dried lake bed

31. Cross-section showing pumping wells from the lake
bed

32. Dried Khat (chat) where groundwater has been
drained

33. • In a schematic hydrologic setting where
ground water discharges to a stream under
natural conditions (A)
• placement of a well pumping at a rate (Q1)
near the stream will intercept part of the
ground water that would have discharged
to the stream (B).
• If the well is pumped at an even greater
rate (Q2), it can intercept additional water
that would have discharged to the stream in
the vicinity of the well and can draw water
from the stream to the well (C).
• Stream Depletion Factors
Used to assess the effects of well pumping on stream flow
Depend on
the distance to the stream (less effect with greater distance)
properties of the aquifer
Consequences of Mismanagement of
Groundwater resource

34.  Compaction and Surface Subsidence
The basic cause of surface subsidence is a loss of support
below ground. In other words, sometimes when water is
taken out of the soil, the soil collapses, compacts, and
drops. This depends on a number of factors, such as the
type of soil and rock below the surface.
• Land subsidence is most often caused by human activities,
mainly from the removal of subsurface water
Consequences of Mismanagement
of Groundwater resource

36. Subsidence associated with
groundwater abstraction
Subsidence is a global problem and, in the USA,
more than 17,000 square miles in 45 States have
been directly affected by subsidence.
More than 80 percent of the identified
subsidence in the Nation has occurred because
of exploitation of underground water.
The increasing development of land and water
resources threatens to worsen existing land-
subsidence problems and initiate new ones.

39.  Saltwater Intrusion
Salt water intrusion occurs in coastal freshwater aquifers
when the different densities of both the saltwater and
freshwater allow the ocean water to intrude into the
freshwater aquifer.
Consequences of Mismanagement
of Groundwater resource

40. Scale of abstraction effects
Consequences of Mismanagement of
Groundwater resource