Man and Groundwater A Historical Perspective

For hundreds of thousands of years man was limited in his activity to the immediate vicinity of available water sources, thus restricting his territorial distribution. The invention of water carrying vessels increased the radius of travel a little. With the passage to animal husbandry and farming in the Neolithic period, some 7000 years ago, the demand for water increased. This was the background for the development of the large river civilizations in 

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In Europe, America, and other areas cities grew most commonly on the banks of large rivers, and until recently most urban water supplies came from dammed surface reservoirs. To overcome years of drought and cope with pollution of the surface waters, these cities incorporate in their supply systems an ever-growing number of wells, and their dependence on the groundwater resource is constantly growing. 

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