Policies for water resource management in semiarid regions

Many of the freshwater problems of the 21st century will arise from increasing demands for water generated by rapid population growth, urbanization, industrialization and irrigation needed to satisfy the additional demand for food. The increased demand for water is being exacerbated by the excessive pumping of groundwater aquifers, some of which hold ancient or fossil’ water, and by the deteriorating quality of both surface and groundwater...