GROUNDWATER RESOURCES, THEIR DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT IN THE UK - AN HISTORICAL-PERSPECTIVE

The Water Act of 1945 can be considered to mark the beginning of modem quantitative hydrogeology in the UK. It introduced a period of some 2 0 years during which the assessment of resources was the dominant issu e as groundwater was developed to meet the increasing post-war demands . The significant effect that groundwater abstraction had on river flo ws was one of the reasons for the Water Resources Act of 1963. This le gislation made regional groundwater management, with the river basin a s the basic unit, a practical objective. From 1974, the degradation of groundwater quality and the risk of pollution increasingly became the main issue. Groundwater resources of England and Wales provide 35% of public water supplies. About 30% of the infiltration to the main aqui fers of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic is abstracted. The use of groundwate r has increased by 80% since 1948 when data first became available. Gr oundwater is now seen as a regional resource developed within the soph isticated water resource systems that are necessary for effective rive r basin management. Development must consider all demands on an aquife r including not only water supply but environmental aspects such as ma intaining river flows and wetland environments.