Book review: Groundwater Resources: Sustainability, Management, and Restoration, by Neven Kresic...

PUBLICATION NOTE

Book review: Groundwater Resources: Sustainability, Management,and Restoration, by Neven Kresic (McGraw-Hill ProfessionalPublishing, 2009)

J. F. Devlin

Keywords Review (book) . Groundwater resources .Groundwater management

Groundwater Resources: Sustainability, Management, andRestoration, published in 2009 by McGraw Hill (Kresic2009), sets out to educate readers on issues pertaining togroundwater sustainability, in the broadest sense of theword. It should be understood at the outset that thestrength of this book is that it covers an impressive rangeof topics in reasonable depth, and in a very readablefashion. The target readership is not specifically identified,but with chapters on global water use (Chapter 1), waterquality (Chapter 5), and climate change (Chapter 4),students with interests in policy development mightbenefit from the book. However, chapters on groundwatertreatment (above ground, Chapter 6) and restoration(Chapter 9), in addition to more traditional chapters ongroundwater systems (Chapter 2: aquifer types, properties,Darcy’s Law), recharge (Chapter 3), and groundwaterdevelopment (Chapter 7) seem to be aimed at a moreengineering or hydrogeological audience. This dual appealis both a strength and a weakness of the book.

On the one hand, as already alluded to, the book doesan admirable job covering a broad range of topics relatedto groundwater science, moving beyond conventionalwater-resource material to tie in global climate change,water use from a geographical perspective, groundwatermanagement, and introductory risk assessment. Topics notusually seen in the more popular hydrogeology textbooksare introduced in this book to the benefit of practicinggroundwater professionals and students—an example of

this is the chapter on climate change. Kresic reviewsnatural climatic cycles, including those quantified byMilankovich, and the El Nino phenomenon. The chaptergoes on to discuss the history of droughts from social andscientific viewpoints, and anthropogenic influences onclimate. The chapter ends with a section discussingclimatic impacts on surface and groundwater resources—though the impact on groundwater was only minimallydealt with, a bit disappointing in a book entitledGroundwater Resources: Sustainability, Management,and Restoration. Regardless, the range of topics reviewedin the book makes it a good reference for people wantingan overview of groundwater issues.

On the other hand, the book is likely to fail in its attempt tosatisfy the more technically minded students and profes-sionals. Equations and graphs appear throughout the text, butthey are often presented only to augment the review ratherthan extend an argument in a didactic fashion. Many of theequations are sufficiently complex so that only experiencedindividuals would find them either familiar or helpful. Noattempt is made to illustrate their use in examples, and noexercises are provided by the author. Therefore, despite itsrelevance for hydrogeologists, this book is not suitable foruse as a primary textbook for hydrogeology courses. Havingsaid this, it is conceded the book occasionally delves intoquantitative material in considerable detail. For example, thegroundwater quality chapter presents the mass actionequation, and equations for organic compound solubilityestimation from Raoult’s Law, the Henry’s Law calculationfor volatilization, sorption according to linear and nonlinearisotherms, and a detailed development of contaminanttransport processes culminating in the presentation of anapproximate solution to the advection dispersion equation.The placement of these topics in the groundwater qualitychapter is questionable, but the discussion is arguably thestrongest technical section of the book. Again, no examplecalculations are presented, so individuals new to the fieldwould likely need another source to actually put the conceptsto use. Also, the groundwater quality chapter ends with adiscussion of the shortcomings of the approximate solutionjust presented; valuable information but presented in afashion that somewhat weakens the earlier material. Thereader is left wondering why the solution was presented at allif is too approximate for general use.

Received: 17 December 2012 /Accepted: 15 February 2013Published online: 21 March 2013

* Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013

J. F. Devlin ())University of Kansas - Geology,Lindley Hall rm. 120 1475 Jayhawk Blvd,Lawrence, KS 66045, USAe-mail: jfdevlin@ku.eduTel.: +1-785-8644994Fax: +1-785-8645276

Hydrogeology Journal (2013) 21: 945–946 DOI 10.1007/s10040-013-0963-6

The book is generally well organized with high-qualityfigures—particularly those geared at illustrating concepts.Except for the packaging of transport topics in the water-quality chapter, and the separation of the groundwatertreatment and groundwater restoration chapters, the bookis well laid out and logically arranged. A topic left out ofthe book that might have received some attention is anoverview of data collection. Hydrogeology fieldwork,particularly in the contaminant studies, has changed agreat deal over the past few decades. The data collectedusing conventional coring and long-screened wells are noteasily comparable with data that are collected usingmultilevel samplers and direct push tools.

In summary, Groundwater Resources: Sustainability,Management, and Restoration is a thorough review ofgroundwater science. The topics covered suggest a targetaudience ranging from policy makers to engineers, but thelack of detail in most of the quantitative material likelylimits its usefulness as an engineering or hydrogeology

textbook. It reviews the material mainly in a descriptivefashion, punctuated with equations and graphs that appearto be aimed at a more technical audience than the rest ofthe book. Some readers might find this balance comfort-able, others—particularly the more technical audience—are likely to find it a bit unsatisfying. Nevertheless, allreaders will be impressed with the breadth of topicscovered, and the detail of the review. As a reference bookfor groundwater professionals, Groundwater Resources:Sustainability, Management, and Restoration fills a nicheand can be recommended.

Reference

Kresic N (2009) Groundwater resources: sustainability, manage-ment, and restoration. McGraw Hill, New York, ISBN 978-0-07-149273-7

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Hydrogeology Journal (2013) 21: 945–946 DOI 10.1007/s10040-013-0963-6