Groundwater has contributed to the development of cities as an important source for industrial production and as a source of drinking water. Figure 6 shows that there is a strong correlation between historical groundwater use and economic growth (in terms of study area RGDP and industrial RGDP) in Bandung and HCMC. In the case of Tianjin, where groundwater use declined with increased RGDP, however, the trend is the opposite. Bangkok’s groundwater use had increased as the city grew since the late 1960s, but recent data on Bangkok now also shows a variation similar to Tianjin. The differences in the correlation between economic development and groundwater abstraction are closely related to the effectiveness of groundwater abstraction control.