UNESCO Cairo Office soon to release Groundwater Operational Management toolkit

Within UNESCO Cairo Office (UCO) efforts to improve the integrated water resources management policies and strategies in the Arab region with a special focus on developing tools and applications for strengthening policies for water management in the Arab region, UCO supported the preparation of the Groundwater Operational Management toolkit. The toolkit focuses on compiling, collecting and documenting field, practical and operational experiences of groundwater management of the aquifer systems in the Arab region. The toolkit, successfully prepared by a group of Arab experts, covers experiences in shallow and deep aquifers besides the existing transboundary aquifers in the Arab region and includes 12 technical modules covering the hydrogeological and groundwater operational management fields, namely: groundwater origin, occurrence and flow; planning for the management of groundwater development, investigations for managing groundwater development, groundwater potential, wells and well fields design; implementation, development of wells; monitoring and evaluation systems, groundwater and water well pollution, management of groundwater development; institutional and legal approaches for managing groundwater development; and awareness for appropriate management of groundwater development.

Currently, UCO is working on developing multimedia CD/DVD and website for the toolkit on Groundwater Operational Management (to be finalized by end of Oct. 2011).