4.4 Groundwater Governance and Management

Concerning groundwater governance and management there are no fundamental differences between large and small aquifers. Consequently, what is presented in publications like Findidakis and Sato (2011), Jakeman and others (2016), and Villholth and others (2018) is in principle valid for aquifer systems of all sizes.

Nevertheless, large and very large aquifer systems are particularly challenging for several reasons.

• Their large dimensions contribute to a high degree of physical complexity, which requires major efforts and financing for assessment and monitoring.
• With increasing aquifer size, communication between stakeholders becomes more difficult and is an obstacle to the development of consensus and solidarity between stakeholder groups living far from each other.
• Issues have to be addressed in a coordinated way at a diversity of spatial scales, not only at the local and aquifer system levels.
• Many of the large aquifer systems are transboundary, which introduces additional dimensions to groundwater governance (Linton and Brooks, 2011; Fried and Ganoulis, 2016; UNESCO-IHP, 2016; Albrecht et al., 2017; Puri and Villholth, 2018). Even more important than a formal interstate agreement and a dedicated coordinating body for transboundary cooperation is mutual trust between the neighboring countries and the willingness to cooperate.
• Deep sedimentary basins in which many large aquifers systems are situated are usually also favorable environments for hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation, making the aquifers more vulnerable to contamination.

Large aquifer systems are likely to play an ever-increasing role in the future, with their vast strategic water reserves and their ample capacities to contribute to climate change adaptation. The enormous importance of the world’s large aquifer systems justifies the major efforts needed for addressing these challenges energetically and effectively.