GROUNDWATER IN SCOTLAND AND NORTHERN-IRELAND - SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES

Groundwater contributes only a small amount of raw water to public sup ply in Scotland and Northern Ireland, but it is nevertheless an import ant resource and is often the only reliable and potable source for rur al communities. There is a striking similarity between the geology and structure of lowland Scotland and that of Northern Ireland due to the southwesterly continuation of the Midland Valley graben into Ireland. That similarity is not widely reflected in the hydrogeological condit ions encountered in the bedrock aquifers on either side of the North C hannel. Groundwater in both Scotland and Northern Ireland is under-uti lized except in some isolated aquifer units where demand now warrants formal groundwater management. Knowledge of most of the major groundwa ter units, in particular of recharge and recharge processes, is not, a s yet, sufficient to create operational models on which to base a syst em of abstraction licensing.