Policy issues and institutional impediments in the management of groundwater: lessons from case studies

摘要: Many opportunities exist to take advantage of integrated surface water–groundwater management with consequent resource and investment savings. In inappropriate legal administrative settings, groundwater becomes an open-access leading excessive contemporary inter-temporal externalities. Several policy instruments have been used correct these externalities: limits in well spacing capacities, pumping taxes tradable permits. Urban–agricultural competition for limited need not result crises either sector if are mediate the competition. case non-renewable stocks groundwater, rates economic demographic development should be planned keeping long-term criteria avoid overly rapid exploitation resource, non-sustainable population levels infrastructure. Island states coastal areas special problems related saltwater intrusion subsidence that can mitigated eliminated through use physical measures. Five brief studies illustrate points.