Aquifers characterization with integrated methodologies(LIFE-CAMI)

The water is one of the most important natural resources for the human and essential to survival. Water is essential for many activities such as civil, agricultural and industrial. 97.5% of the available water is seawater, with fresh water accounting for only the remaining 2.5%. Moreover, most of the fresh water consists of ice in the Arctic and Antarctic and underground water; no more than 0.01% of the fresh water is available for human use. From 1950 to 2005 the available pro-capital quantity of fresh water is decreased from 17.000 m2 a 4.500 m2. The lack of water is a problem, which plagues many countries in the world. There are now more than a billion people with no regular access to clean water for drinking. An effective safeguard of water resources requires a preventive policy that reduces the causes and changes the environmental regulations. This new policy of water safeguard has been carrying out in many international conferences such as Stockholm 1972. Moreover, European Community has emanated some directives to protect the environment. In particular, the directive 2000/60/CE is very important because it aims to safeguard the water resources. (author)