Hydrogeological Factors for Sustainable Urban Water Systems

Abstract

The inexorable expansion of the world’s urban population and the realisation that water resources are finite have forced many developing cities in emergent economies to consider how sustainability can be introduced into their plans for infrastructural improvement. Groundwater-dependent cities should feel this need keenest. Yet the pace of urban aquifer management remains slow. Simple but context- sensitive aquifer protection policies would help plan for sustainable urban development, especially if stakeholder involvement increases the chances for the gap between policy enactment and enforcement/compliance to be closed. The experience of two such developing cities in Bangladesh and Kyrghyzstan that are attempting to develop their own groundwater protection plan along sound hydrogeological principles is described. KEY