Introduction to Hydrology of Volcanic Islands

Among the volcanic regions in Spain, the most important are the Canary Islands. A remarkable amount of geological, ecological, botanical and hydrological singularities are concentrated in the archipelago. From the point of view of water resources, the Islands are a worldwide example of their use and management. This knowledge, developed trough years of research and experience in the Canary Islands, can be transferred to other oceanic island systems. In this paper, we start introducing the formation processes and geological oddities that condition water uses in the volcanic islands, with a special spot for the underground resources. Afterwards, waterworks more characteristic of islands and the effect of “fog rainfall” are described. Finally, we aim to the transfer of technology and success cases on water resources between global volcanic islands is proposed.