Climate Change and its influence on Groundwater Resources.

This article is very important and presented an in depth analysis to chapter five of our text material. It is an interesting article because first, there is no life without water, so it is very essential to safeguard the future of water resources by studying both past and present.
Ground water affects the earth as a whole because of its primary importance as the best protected reserves for distribution across the World, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. It is one of the largest available resources of freshwater and it is estimated that 30% of global freshwater are in the form of groundwater. It is an essential part of the hydrological cycle and very valuable natural resource for agriculture, domestic and industrial use. Its effect on Earth as a whole can be measured by its economic development growth, availability of portable water supplies and the capacity to balance the swings in precipitation when there are increases in demand during drought. As a major human consumption, it also has the capacity to endure streams, lakes and wetlands during extended drought.

This article discussed how climatic change is attributed to direct and indirect human activities and the uncertain consequences of climatic change. According to the authors, ground water availability in quality and quantity are threatened by factors where climate plays a leading role. Water availability problems occur when the demand for water exceeds the amount available which happens frequently in areas with low rainfall, high population density, intensive agriculture and industrial activity. Another climate influence, mentioned in this article relates to saline intrusion which is very widespread along the Mediterranean coastlines where there is a high demand of tourist resorts. Ground water resource is adversely affected for domestic consumption because when the sea-level rise, the intrusion deteriorates the water quality as a result of the salt content which in turn creates health problems. In addition, the presence of resource reduction during severe dry periods, the changes in re-charge pattern affect ground water storage accompanied by cost increase in providing water supply. As water table falls, ground water is lost to drainage and evaporation especially at areas with recurrent vegetation.

In recognition of these problems, the authors maintained that it is actually difficult to determine the potential impacts because of complex re-charge process and climatic zone. The need to evaluate and understand climatic variability to better plan and manage groundwater resources well into the future is recommended while taking into consideration the increasing stress on those resources from population growth, industrial and agricultural needs. In essence, research should be