**6. Conclusions**

As recently noted by Reddy and Syme (2014) [67], sustainable groundwater usage and managemen<sup>t</sup> likely represents the most difficult challenge within the broader field of water resource management, not only because of its global volumetric significance, but, perhaps more importantly, because of a widespread lack of mechanistic awareness and information, that is, occurrence, transport, and vulnerability to contamination. Similarly, necessary communication and engagemen<sup>t</sup> between experts and non-experts within the domain of socio-hydrogeology comprises an inherently higher level of complexity than that encountered within socio-hydrology, and, therefore, cannot employ analogous methods to bridging current gaps between geoscience and society. Previous studies have quite rightly called for an increasingly sociological mentality in attempting to alleviate groundwater-related issues [11,67] and this must continue to be fostered. It is apparent that the "all things to all men" approach may not be appropriate as it places pressure on the hydrogeological community to be societal, sociological, and linguistic experts, in addition to presuming high levels of homogeneity that are not present, socially, geographically, or hydrogeologically. Instead, we recommend that circular socio(hydro)economies comprising all affected and influential actors (hydrogeologists, groundwater users, policymakers), in addition to experts within the social and communications sciences, in order to ensure effective translation and demographically focused message framing. This approach would be particularly effective within medium and high-income countries that are no less reliant on groundwater resources, and no less sensitive to groundwater pressures; however, the demographic and cultural profiles within these regions are vastly different to those in developing countries. As such, effective bi-directional provision of information, experience, guidance, and recommendations should be both regionally and demographically bespoke, accounting not only for hydrogeological setting, but also for regional demographics, socioeconomics, and media preferences. As noted by Hynds et al. (2017) [68], "hydrogeologists possess an inherent understanding of the complex and unpredictable nature of groundwater contamination, and thus in collaboration with microbiologists, epidemiologists, geochemists, medical practitioners, and policy makers have an opportunity to help achieve global public health goals". While this sentiment undoubtedly remains true both now and into the future, it may pertinent to add social, management, mobile technology, and communications experts to this mix.

**Author Contributions:** P.H., J.O. and S.R. conceptualised the paper. P.H., S.R., J.O., L.A., S.M., S.D. and K.O. analysed the literature and contributed to the writing of the paper. J.O. and P.H. approved the final manuscript.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
