NAGREF - Hellenic Agricultural Organization (H.A.O.-DEMETER), Institute for Olive Tree Subtropical Crops and Viticulture, Water Recourses-Irrigation & Env. Geoinformatics Lab., Agrokipio, Chania, Greece.
School of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Crete, Polytechneioupolis, 73100 Chania, Greece.
Sci Total Environ. 2018 Feb 15;615:381-389. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.09.308. Epub 2017 Oct 5.
In many Mediterranean islands with limited surface water resources, the growth of agricultural and touristic sectors, which are the main water consumers, highly depends on the sustainable water resources management. This work highlights the crucial role of groundwater footprint (GF) as a tool for the sustainable management of water resources, especially in water scarce islands. The groundwater footprint represents the water budget between inflows and outflows in an aquifer system and is used as an index of the effect of groundwater use in natural resources and environmental flows. The case study presented in this paper is the island of Crete, which consists of 11 main aquifer systems. The data used for estimating the groundwater footprint in each system were groundwater recharges, abstractions through 412 wells, environmental flows (discharges) from 76 springs and 19 streams present in the area of study. The proposed methodology takes into consideration not only the water quantity but also the water quality of the aquifer systems and can be used as an integrated decision making tool for the sustainable management of groundwater resources. This methodology can be applied in any groundwater system. The results serve as a tool for assessing the potential of sustainable use and the optimal distribution of water needs under the current and future climatic conditions, considering both quantitative and qualitative factors. Adaptation measures and water policies that will effectively promote sustainable development are also proposed for the management of the aquifer systems that exhibit a large groundwater footprint.
在地中海地区许多地表水有限的岛屿上，农业和旅游业等主要耗水部门的发展高度依赖于可持续水资源管理。本研究强调了地下水足迹（GF）作为水资源可持续管理工具的关键作用，特别是在水资源短缺的岛屿上。地下水足迹代表含水层系统中流入和流出之间的水预算，被用作衡量地下水在自然资源和环境流中利用影响的指标。本文介绍的案例研究是克里特岛，该岛由 11 个主要含水层系统组成。用于估算每个系统地下水足迹的数据包括地下水补给量、通过 412 口井抽取的水量、研究区域内 76 个泉眼和 19 条溪流的环境流量（排放量）。所提出的方法不仅考虑了含水层系统的水量，还考虑了水质，可以作为地下水资源可持续管理的综合决策工具。该方法可应用于任何地下水系统。研究结果可用于评估在当前和未来气候条件下，考虑到数量和质量因素，可持续利用和优化分配水资源需求的潜力。还提出了适应措施和水政策，以有效促进表现出大量地下水足迹的含水层系统的可持续发展。
