Definition and History of Hydrogeology - Hydrogeology: Objectives, Methods, Applications - page 8

1.3 Current branches of research
1.3.1 Applied hydrogeology
Hydrogeology in the 21st century faces a challenge: how to supply safe
drinking water to the Earth's 9 billion inhabitants in 2050? And this in a
context where the concept of sustainable development has taken hold?
The hydrogeology of the future will certainly be one of active aquifer
management (Detay, 1997). If global resources are judged satisfactory on
the quantitative level, protection against pollution will probably be the
principal outcome of hydrogeologic studies.
At the country scale (France), an immense amount of work remains
to be done: putting into effect the October 23rd, 2,000 EU directive. It
mandates that, by 2015, all water bodies, including groundwaters, with
certain justifi able exceptions, must be made to conform to EU standards.
But new sources of pollution have emerged (antibiotics, hormones), derived
from human and animal consumption; they are dumped into the natural
environment where their effects remain poorly understood.
The management of organic, chemical, or nuclear waste raises the
problem of long-term aquifer contamination. How can we be certain that
nuclear waste, buried in rock deemed impermeable and stored in sealed
containers, will not, over hundreds of years, be attacked by the degrading
effects of groundwater and contaminate our descendants' water for
thousands of years?
1.3.2 Fundamentals of hydrogeology
A few research interests deserve to be highlighted here, such as the role of
water in tectonics and magnetism, the depth of groundwater circulation, the
mechanisms governing the formation of the great karst systems (Fontaine
de Vaucluse, Port Miou), the modelling of karst fl ow, and the role of
microbiology in the physical and chemical properties of groundwater.
Lastly, at the time of writing, hydrogeology is extending out onto other
planets, as the fabulous data and images being sent back from Mars by
the European Mars Explorer and the rovers Spirit and Opportunity bring
proof of Martian water circulation, which may still be present in a liquid
state below the surface of the red planet. The traces of a salty sea have been
discovered, and numerous topographical features indicate, not only the
presence of surface water in the past, but also the existence of pseudo-karst
springs and slumps linked to groundwater circulation.