Groundwater: Trends and scientific development

Abstract

This present study analyzes research trends on technical aspects of groundwater management while presenting a critical view. Groundwater is a promising supply source for different uses according to its quality. This topic has been considered from different technical perspectives that provide a conceptual framework. Bibliometric tools such as RefViz (®) and T-Lab (®) are used to process groundwater information that is collected over a 10-year observation window from specialized databases. The results show that both groundwater quality and the development of quality indices that are applicable to a given context are priority research areas. In addition, hydrogeological studies that contemplate spatial and temporal variability offer research opportunities for better groundwater management. It is concluded that integration of these research approaches can contribute to increasing the efficiency of groundwater use.