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## Meet the editor

Prof. Tarhouni received her DEA in Hydrodynamics, Hydrology, and Geophysics from the Scientific and Medical University of Grenoble, France, and a Ph.D. in Water and Land Management from the University of Ghent, Belgium. She is a Professor of Groundwater Modeling and Hydraulics and Director of Sciences and Technologies for the Water Laboratory at the National Agronomic Institute of Tunisia.

## Contents


Preface

The groundwater potential of outcropping and deep geological layers is very

ing the behavior of the aquifers.

tions related to large datasets.

change become possible.

storage.

as in healthy groundwater exploitation conditions.

important for socioeconomic development, especially in semi-arid and arid regions. Improving knowledge of this potential and the risks related to entropic activities as well as climate change is a challenge due to the tremendous number of factors affect-

Evaluation of groundwater potential has, in fact, made great progress following the development of prospecting technologies as well as the elaboration of advanced methods for interpretation and 3D representation. The very heterogeneous properties of the aquifers have led to the need to implement suitable prospecting methods and specific analyses to assess the capacity of these formations to supply water. The objectives are to improve knowledge of the structure and hydrogeological functioning of the aquifers that constitute the basis of groundwater flow through complex porous media structures. Indeed, advanced groundwater tools are applied either for a better understanding of hydrogeological systems or for the prediction of their future behavior and, therefore, for the assessment of sustainable exploitation of groundwater. Newly available tools apply complementary methods that allow integrating, manipulating, and interpreting existing or newly collected data to overcome limita-

Consequently to climate change, land use and land cover may be negatively impacted and may induce large disturbances in the hydrological cycle. More specifically, groundwater recharge estimation under land cover and climate change is becoming a major hazard. Advanced informatics tools such as geographic information systems (GIS) allow the management of land cover and land use changes. As a result, sustainable use of groundwater resources as well as their adaptation and mitigation to climate

Groundwater is exposed to other risks than those related to climate change, in particular the risks of pollution. The protection of groundwater against the risks of pollution is a necessity to ensure access to water safe for drinking and household use. To achieve this, the challenge lies both in a better characterization of the risks as well

able techniques for accessing and managing groundwater resources.

This book develops and applies various approaches and tools to study and investigate the impacts of climate change and pollution on groundwater. It also presents sustain-

Chapter 1 reviews the status, prospects, and challenges of land cover change and its impacts on groundwater recharge, water quality and quantity, and groundwater
