ABSTRACT

Groundwater constitutes the main potable water supply source for human consumption and irrigation of agriculture worldwide (Bear et al. 1999). This is especially true of arid or semi-arid regions that are prone to drought and may have limited surface water resources (de Vries and Simmers 2002), and in developing nations where lack of sanitation has led to contamination of surface waters and where rapid population growth has increased the demand for freshwater (McMurray 2007; Rosen and Conly 1998).