Enhancing Informed Decisions for Coastal Groundwater Sustainability: A Network Analysis of Water-Related Indicator Results from 122 Cities

Abstract

In many places around the globe, groundwater has been threatened by various pressures, which calls for better management strategies for groundwater sustainability. In this study, we suggest a novel framework for identifying factors critical to coastal groundwater based on results from City Blueprint (CB) assessments. By compiling the 5856 indicator results of the City Blueprint Approach (CBA) from 122 cities and analyzing the correlation between thes indicators, we constructed City Blueprint networks (CBN) by using a complex network modeling approach for three groups of cities: all 122 cities, 40 coastal, and 82 non-coastal cities. These networks were then analyzed for their node centralities to identify major factors that influence coastal groundwater management. Interestingly, our analysis revealed that groundwater has various indirect but important links with the factors that are typically unexplored in the literature. We also assessed the CB of the two largest coastal cities in South Korea. By combining the results of network analysis and CB assessment of the two cities, we could identify the indicators that are potentially at risk regarding coastal groundwater. We propose the CBN as a novel approach to unveil underestimated or hidden factors related to the target system (e.g., groundwater), which allows extensive options for sustainable groundwater management.

Groundwater Resources Management: Reconciling Demand, High Quality Resources and Sustainability

“…A novel framework for identifying critical factors to coastal groundwater could be extremely useful for a wide range of practical management objectives. Lee et al [19] consider 5856 indicator results of the City Blueprint Approach (CBA) from 122 cities. The correlation between these indicators led to the city blueprint networks using a complex network modelling approach for three groups of cities: all 122 cities, 40 coastal, and 82 non-coastal cities.…”

“…The third theme explores the potentiality of geophysics tools supporting groundwater management in the case of coastal aquifers [14][15][16]. The fourth theme concerns problems associate with groundwater quantity [17][18][19][20]. Then, we provide a short description and discussion of this whole set of experiences from the authors' contribution to this Special Issue.…”