Annette Affolter, Stefan Scheidler & Jannis Epting

Groundwater is one of the most important resources for industry, agriculture and the production of drinking water. A prerequisite for sustainable groundwater protection is the understanding of the various processes of groundwater recharge and the emergence of groundwater quality.

Results from hydrogeological investigations form the basis for the assessment of hydraulic engineering measures and the regional management of water resources. A reconciliation of different interests with the protection of groundwater also includes the restoration of rivers in their function as species-rich ecosystems that shape landscapes and connect different habitats with each other.

Groundwater models are a valuable tool to determine or estimate, based on hydrological and hydrogeological data and operating data, inflow areas of drinking water wells. Scenario development can be used to record the possible effects of encroachments or natural hazards and to perform appropriate risk and risk assessments.

Left: Groundwater regime and inflow areas of the drinking water wells in the lower Birsvalley between Aesch and Reinach, Switzerland. Bottom right: Cross section through the aquifer and monitoring systems to study river-groundwater interaction in the inflow of a drinking water well (Epting, J., Huggenberger, P., Radny, D., Hammes, F., Hollender, J., Page, R.M., Weber, S., Banninger, D. and Auckenthaler, A. (2018) Spatiotemporal scales of river-groundwater interaction - The role of local interaction processes and regional groundwater regimes. Science of the total Environment 618; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.09.219).