Groundwater is endangered and polluted in several ways. Conservation and better management of this invisible resource should be a key ingredient of sustainable water policies. This is especially true in areas, such as many Mediterranean regions, which are already exposed to scarcity problems and which are likely to experience increasing competition between freshwater uses and users. Agriculture is an important user of groundwater not only in terms of abstractions, but also in terms of generation and release of pollutants. Agricultural policies, traditionally directed towards other objectives, are beginning to pay more attention to environmental considerations. However more effective initiatives are required to reduce the pressure upon groundwater resources and to achieve a better integration between agricultural and environmental policies.
This book has been developed from three workshops held as part of the EU Concerted Action SAGA, "Sustainable Agricultural Use of Aquifers in Southern Europe: Integration between Agricultural and Water Management Policies" (FAIR5-CT97-3673). The Concerted Action and the workshops brought together researchers working in different but complementary fields, in order to get a picture of the state-of-the art about interlinkages between agriculture and groundwater, as well a critical review of alternative regulatory approaches and policy instruments aimed at improving groundwater management.

Inhalt
I Introduction.- 1. Improving Agricultural Use of Groundwater: Policy Issues and Further Research Directions.- II Groundwater use and the Value of Conservation.- 2. Freshwater Availability and Groundwater Use in Southern Europe.- 3. Agricultural Impacts on Groundwater: Processes, Modelling and Decision Support.- 4. Issues in the Valuation of Groundwater Benefits.- 5. Misconceptions in Aquifer Over-exploitation: Implications for Water Policy in Southern Europe.- III Groundwater Quality Management: Regulation, Economic Instruments and Voluntary Approaches.- 6. Controlling Groundwater Pollution from Agricultural Non-point Sources: an Overview of Policy Instruments.- 7. Voluntary and Compulsory Measures to Implement a More Sustainable Agriculture in Water Catchment Areas.- 8. Negotiated Agreements Between Water Suppliers and Farmers in the Context of Changing Water Networks in Europe.- 9. Negotiated Agreements on Groundwater Quality Management: a Case Study of a Private Contractual Framework for Sustainable Farming Practices.- IV Agricultural Policy and Water USE.- 10. Agricultural Policy, Environmental Impacts and Water Use Under Production Uncertainty.- 11. Agricultural Subsidies, Water Pricing and Farmers' Responses: Implications for Water Policy and CAP Reform.- 12. Socio-economic and Institutional Factors Affecting Water Resources Management in a CAP Framework.- 13. The Environmental Impacts of CAP: An Overview of the Present State of Knowledge and Research Needs.