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.