B+

Co
B

lora
os +
B

do
qu i

Conch
B Tampa

Ya
+
B + Torreon
B +
Miami Groundwater Resources of Central
and South America
+
Monterrey

B Havana

Leon Merida
Guadalajara +

TolucaB
++ Puebla
Port-au-Prince San Juan
Mexico City
+
Santo Domingo
Belmopan

Guatemala
+ Tegucigalpa
+
+
San Salvador

Managua
+
Barranquilla
Maracaibo Maracay Caracas

+ Panama City Valencia

Barquisimeto
San Jose +

Bucaramanga Georgetown
Medellin
Paramaribo
+
+
Bogota Cayenne

Cali

Quito

Belem
+

Manaus
Guayaquil
Iquitos Fortaleza
+

Natal
+

Recife
+

+
Maceio

Lima + Campinas

Salvador

Cuiaba
Brasilia
La Paz
+
Goiania
Santa Cruz de La Sierra

Belo Horizonte Vitoria

Antofagasta Rio de Janeiro

Sao Paulo
+ Asuncion
Curitiba

Porto Alegre

Cordoba
Rosario
Santiago
Buenos Aires
+
Montevideo

Groundwater resources groundwater recharge (mm/a)

Surface water
very high high medium low very low
300 100 20 2 0

in major groundwater basins major river

in areas with
complex hydrogeological structure large freshwater lake

in areas with local and shallow aquifers

large saltwater lake

continuous ice sheet

Special groundwater features Ushuaia

area of saline groundwater (> 5 g/l total dissolved solids) Geography

I natural groundwater discharge area in arid regions ! selected city

B area of heavy groundwater abstraction with over-exploitation !

+ selected city,
largely dependent on groundwater
i
B area of groundwater mining
country boundary
BGR Hannover / UNESCO Paris 2008. All rights reserved. 0 250 500 750 1000 km