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KEY MESSAGES
• groundwater is a major source of urban supply worldwide and aquifer storage represents a key resource for achieving water-supply security under climate change and extended drought
• private waterwell construction for urban in-situ self-supply tends to escalate as a ‘coping strategy’ during periods of inadequate utility water service, but then waterwell use often continues for years as a ‘cost-reduction strategy’
• urbanisation greatly modifies the ‘groundwater cycle’ with marked impacts – including periods of declining aquifer pressures (which can cause land subsidence with building and infrastructure damage) and periods of rising water-table (which can lead to groundwater flooding with public health hazards
and infrastructure damage)
• in the developing world, in-situ sanitation can present a significant groundwater quality hazard which needs more proactive and integrated management
• groundwater is often the ‘invisible link’ between various facets of the urban infrastructure, tending to affect ‘everybody’ whilst all too often being the responsibility of ‘no body’
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