IWRA Proceedings

AbstractA major challenge of groundwater exploitation on islands is the risk of saline water incursion into groundwater systems due to water production in excess of the natural recharge. As many oceanic islands have groundwater reservoirs where saline groundwater underlies the freshwater, the cause of the saline water intrusion can either be due to mixing of the fresh and saline groundwaters or by inflow of seawater into the groundwater system. This is particularly problematic on small islands and islands in arid and semi-arid regions with a considerable populations, for example the Canary Islands which fall into both groups.