Abel Abebe

1. Course Aim/Rationale:

The amount of groundwater stored in an aquifer at any instant of time depends on the dynamic

relationship between recharge inputs, through the overlying land surface and from rivers, and

outflow to surface waters and pumped abstraction. Aquifer storage provides a buffer between

highly variable, climatically-driven recharge processes, and the less variable outflow that

supports surface water ecology. The abstraction of groundwater for human use, and some kinds of

land-use changes, alters the dynamic balance between “natural” recharge and the state of surface

waters. The groundwater resource management objective is to determine the regime of

abstraction that results in acceptable environmental effects. This course aims at enhancing

student’s skills and knowledge of tools, methods, and approaches used in groundwater resources

management.