SPECIAL ISSUE PREFACE - “Groundwater Resources Management in Coastal Regions”

Management of groundwater resources is a key issue for countries which are located within sensitive hydrologic or hydrogeologic basins, playing a vital -or centralrole in sustainable development, as well as on the long-term geopolitical stability. Coastal countries and more specifically coastal aquifers are considered as such sensitive regions. The fact that groundwater is one of the most important freshwater resources on earth, with almost 90% of available freshwater quantities found in hydrogeologic systems, makes the management of groundwater resources an issue of paramount importance. With this special issue, we wish to initiate an open discussion or platform, which will contain different approaches for the managament of groundwaters in such hydrollogically sensitive regions. Sensitivity lies on both quantitative as well as qualitative characteristics of the region, including the majority of environmental water problems such as: groundwater contamination and pollution, aquifer overexploitation, seawater intrusion, groundwater-surface water interactions and management of water resources.