ABSTRACT
Groundwater use has many different aspects, some complementary and others competitive of the resource’s conditions, qualities and capacity. Resources are used from the ecosystem, transformed to products and returned as waste. This circumstance is true for groundwater and the subsurface environment as well. The expanding level of competition for groundwater and the subsurface environment need the careful and full consideration of thorough economic analyses. An extensive review of freshwater value completed by Frederick et al. documented the results of 494 water value estimates for both groundwater and surface water uses in nonmarket conditions. From the surface, the underground environment seems a vast, dense mass of resources comprised of soil, rock, water and other substances that may have economic use. The subsurface environment with its aquifers – the place of groundwater storage and flow – is under economic competition, hopefully for the sustainable betterment of humankind.
