Arid countries like Kuwait are increasingly focussing on techniques using stable isotopes to assess their groundwater resources and meet the challenge to manage the freshwater resources in a sustainable way for their growing populations. “There are no permanent rivers or lakes in Kuwait and groundwater is our only natural water resource. We have an average rainfall of just 115 mm per year and freshwater streams do not exist,” said Muhammad Al-Rashed, Executive Director of the Water Research Center (WRC) in the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR). Therefore, effective water management policies are vital to ensure the quality and quantity of water availability to meet the demand of the country’s population of more than four million. Kuwait’s groundwater reserves are mainly in the north of the country with limited recharge, as only a small percentage of rainwater reaches these aquifers. Isotope hydrology techniques are one of the key scientific methods that experts in Kuwait use to trace fresh water movement and to assess the age of available groundwater. It is based on the natural “tagging” water carries of various isotopes, which can be used to determine the source, age, movement and interactions of water above and below ground. The data obtained and visualized as hydrological maps enable experts in making evidence-based decisions on sustainable resource management. Al-Rashed and his colleagues have conducted several isotope hydrology studies for the management of groundwater in Kuwait. The IAEA has been supporting Kuwait since 2000 through various technical cooperation projects, leading to the understanding of available groundwater resources and corrective actions to enhance water management policies. For example, an IAEA supported technical cooperation project on isotope investigations to evaluate groundwater hydrology in Kuwait, focused on the collection of isotopic data of groundwater that were later integrated with data collected during previous studies for the isotopic mapping of groundwaters covering the entire country. The application of isotope techniques helped in interpreting the origin, age and movement of groundwater, which are essential for the sustainable management of water resources. Original source: IAEA Published on 28 December 2018