M73 Groundwater Management

Manual M73, Groundwater Management, is the culmination of efforts by members of AWWA's Groundwater Resource Committee to identify and demonstrate the value of using computer modeling tools to help utilities better manage their groundwater resources in light of greater competition for water and dwindling supplies in many parts of the world. In North America, we see acute issues developing in the Plains states, Rocky Mountains, desert Southwest, and even along parts of the Eastern Seaboard. In many of these cases, deep and often confined aquifers are being tapped for irrigation and potable supplies, but there is little hope these aquifers can recover their supplies in our lifetime. That creates the potential for serious economic and social consequences later in the 21st century for communities whose wells may run dry and have no backup options. To this end, this manual includes a discussion on the sustainability of groundwater supplies; overdrafting; and the need for groundwater protection, planning, and evaluation efforts that have evolved in the past 10 years. While groundwater management was incorporated to a small degree in the 2014 version of M21, Groundwater, the committee felt the topic has developed considerably over the past 10 years and that a more detailed and focused manual for groundwater management was timely. M21 will now focus primarily on operations.