New challenges for deploying regional groundwater models for groundwater management

Abstract

In the Kumamoto region, which depends on groundwater for almost 100% of its drinking water supply, the groundwater management has made progress from a qualitative understanding of groundwater flow toward a quantitative understanding and the future prediction of groundwater flow using groundwater models. This challenge has been based on data collection by the government, efforts by the academic field, and the need for private sector to make decisions based on quantitative understanding. This article reviews the history of groundwater model-based approaches, as also the latest activities for future groundwater management in response to the environmental changes.