Deep Groundwater Resources: Characteristics and Constraints

As a consequence of the increase in water demand due to population growth, and decrease in available conventional water resources because of climate change, unconventional water resources, specifically deep groundwater resources, have become the focus of attention. Due to the lack of required information, reconnaissance and exploration investigations of the resources, in order to demonstrate the country assets in this regard, was under taken by governmental authorities. Currently, two separate projects, namely “Potentiality of favorable zones for deep groundwater, at country scale” and “Exploration of Sistan deep groundwater”, are in progress. The focus of the aforementioned projects are mainly on the discovery of deep aquifers and assessments of the relevant exploitable water volumes. Focusing on other aspects of the resources, such as social, environmental, renewability, and water quality issues must also be taken into account. This paper gives an overview of deep groundwater characteristic, as well as exploitation constraints and considerations, reviewing the relevant research worldwide.