Urban Groundwater Management and Hydrogeological Assessment

Urban groundwater management and hydrogeological assessment encompass the evaluation, protection and sustainable use of subsurface water beneath cities. Groundwater in urban areas fulfils multiple roles: supplying drinking water, sustaining green infrastructure, buffering against drought and supporting ecosystem services. However, rapid urbanisation alters recharge patterns, increases contamination risk and places stress on aquifer systems. Integrated management requires combining geological mapping, numerical modelling, vulnerability assessment and continuous monitoring to characterise aquifer properties, flow dynamics, recharge rates and pollutant pathways. Such assessments inform policy interventions—ranging from source protection zones and managed aquifer recharge schemes to regulations on abstraction and land use. Recent advances emphasise high-resolution spatial data integration, three-dimensional conceptual models of subsurface strata and the coupling of socio-hydrological data to capture human–water interactions. In parallel, vulnerability mapping guides targeted remediation of contamination hotspots, while resilience frameworks highlight the role of groundwater in mitigating climatic extremes. Together, these approaches support adaptive management strategies that balance urban growth with long-term aquifer health and water security.

Research from Nature Portfolio

No recent Nature Portfolio content available.

Urban Groundwater Management and Hydrogeological Assessment publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in urban groundwater management and hydrogeological assessment across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Aquifer: A subsurface layer of permeable rock or sediment that stores and transmits groundwater.

Recharge: The process by which water percolates through soil and rock to replenish an aquifer.

Hydrogeological model: A conceptual or numerical representation of groundwater flow, incorporating aquifer geometry, hydraulic properties and boundary conditions.

Vulnerability assessment: A method to map the susceptibility of an aquifer to contamination based on intrinsic hydrogeological factors and anthropogenic pressures.

Managed aquifer recharge: The intentional augmentation of groundwater storage through engineered structures or infiltration basins.

3D geodatabase: A spatial database that integrates three-dimensional subsurface features, infrastructure volumes and hydrogeological data for urban groundwater management.

References

1. Review: Urban groundwater issues and resource management, and their roles in the resilience of cities. Hydrogeology Journal (2022).
2. A geological model for the management of subsurface data in the urban environment of Barcelona and surrounding area. Solid Earth (SE) (2016).
3. A 3D Geodatabase for Urban Underground Infrastructures: Implementation and Application to Groundwater Management in Milan Metropolitan Area. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information (2020).
4. Environmental Groundwater Vulnerability Assessment in Urban Water Mines (Porto, NW Portugal). Water (2016).