Groundwater is a vital resource of water, in some regions of the world the only source of fresh water. Its use for domestic use and agriculture dates back thousands of years. In recent decades the over-exploitation and unabated use of this resource has lead to severe environmental problems such as resource depletion, land subsidence and groundwater contamination. To mitigate these adverse impacts and protect this valuable resource, it is imperative that rational groundwater management practices and policies as well as robust modeling and analysis tools be developed.

This volume and the accompanying USB memory card include the abstracts and full papers that were presented at the 6th International Groundwater Symposium that was held in Kuwait between 19 and 21 of November, 2012. The Symposium was jointly organized by the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research and the Groundwater Hydraulics and Management Committee of the International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR). More than 100 researchers, engineers, geologists and water specialists from more than 20 countries attended the Symposium to exchange ideas and expertise relating to the latest developments in the fi eld. The papers presented at the Symposium were organized under the following themes: modeling and management under uncertainty, sustainable groundwater management in arid and semiarid environments, Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) as a groundwater management tool, management solutions for groundwater rise problems, fl ow and transport modeling, and subsurface contamination and remediation.

This volume provides a state-of-the-art discussion of the latest issues relating to groundwater exploration, management and protection, with an emphasis on bridging the gap between research practice and policy. The volume will serve as an important reference to students, researchers, modelers as well as practitioners and policy makers.