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The solution describing the wellbore flow rate in a constant-head test integrated with an optimization approach is commonly used to analyze observed wellbore flow-rate data for estimating the hydrogeological parameters of low-permeability aquifers. To our knowledge, the wellbore flow-rate solution for the constant-head test in a two-zone finite-extent confined aquifer has never been reported so far in the literature. This article is first to develop a mathematical model for describing the head distribution in the two-zone aquifer. The Laplace domain solutions for the head distributions and wellbore flow rate in a two-zone finite confined aquifer are derived using the Laplace transform, and their corresponding time domain solutions are then obtained using the Bromwich integral method and residue theorem. These new solutions are expressed in terms of an infinite series with Bessel functions and not straightforward to calculate numerically. A large-time solution for the wellbore flow rate is therefore developed by employing the relationship of small Laplace variable versus large time variable and L'Hospital's rule. The result shows that the large-time solution is identical to the steady-state solution obtained after applying the Tauberian theorem into the Laplace domain solution. This large-time solution can reduce to the Thiem equation in the case of no skin. Finally, the newly developed solution is used to investigate the effects of outer boundary distance and conductivity ratio on the wellbore flow rate. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In arid and semi-arid regions, the groundwater overexploitation caused drawdown in piezometric levels and a degradation of chemical water quality. That is why the groundwater monitoring needs a good comprehension of the hydrogeological aquifer properties. This is specially the case of Z,ramdine-B,ni Hassen deep aquifer (east-central Tunisia). Seismic profiles interpretation highlights the existence of the Z,ramdine fault corridor, the BoumerdSs anticline, the Moknine and Mahdia grabens that represent lateral boundaries for the study aquifer. The outcrop of the aquifer is located in the Z,ramdine, B,ni Hassen and Ain Ben Jannet regions, where two lithostratigraphic sections were realized. The piezometric study shows that the principal groundwater flow is from west to east. A secondary flow is from NW to SE. The hydrochemical study of 22 sample shows that the aquifer is characterized by freshwater, dominated by Na-Ca-Cl-SO4 facies. The salinity increase is from the west to the east, which coincides with the principal water flow direction. The integration of all results deduced from the hydrogeophysic, hydrodynamic and hydrochemical studies is developed to investigate hydrological processes of Z,ramdine-B,ni Hassen aquifer and consequently to propose a conceptual model, which will help to propose a rescue plan for the studied aquifer and to implement a spatial hydrogeological database using the global information system and then to characterize the complex aquifer system.

Predictions in Ungauged Basins (PUB) mainly focus on surface water, but there are much higher prediction uncertainties inherent in groundwater. Hanoi depends entirely on groundwater for its domestic water supply. However, the characteristics of the entire Hanoi aquifer system remain poorly understood due to the lack of available data. Recently, we were nominated to construct a hydrogeological database. Using the valuable data contained in this database, this paper comprehensively analyzed the best number of 240 boreholes including well logs and their hydrogeological parameters obtained from pumping tests for the first time in order to identify the entire Hanoi aquifer system and characterize the hydrogeological conditions for potential groundwater resources. Great efforts have been made to establish and analyze the hydrogeological maps, cross sections and the isopach maps of main aquifers’ thickness and transmissibility. As for the results, we found that groundwater mainly exists in the topmost Holocene unconfined aquifer and the shallow Pleistocene confined aquifer (PCA), while cleft and karst water exists in the Neogene water bearing layer and the Mesozoic fractured zones. These aquifers are adequately, quantitatively characterized and evaluated from the viewpoint of potential groundwater resources. We found the PCA serving as the highest groundwater potential and the most important aquifer for the water supply. The findings are indispensable for further groundwater analyses contributing to ensuring the sustainable groundwater development not only in Hanoi but also in poorly gauged or ungauged neighboring basins. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Summary Characterization of fractured rock aquifers often requires the acquisition and analysis of diverse datasets obtained from various instrumentation configurations. In this investigation at the fractured rock research site in Floyd County, Virginia, a high-precision borehole extensometer and tiltmeter were used during pumping to monitor deformation in the vicinity of fractures identified from borehole logging. Strain data obtained from earth tide analyses were used with the extensometer and tiltmeter data to quantify hydromechanical properties, including fracture volumetric specific storage, porosity, Poisson’s ratio, the drained formation elastic modulus, and the effective dip direction of the fracture. Borehole tiltmeter data were used to estimate deformation caused by an aquifer test consisting of three pumping and recovery periods performed in well EX-1. During each period of the aquifer test the extensometer, located in W-03 and 27.7 m from the pumping well, was anchored over 2-m-long sections of (1) a fracture in hydraulic communication with EX-1, (2) a fracture that is not hydraulically connected with EX-1, and (3) an unfractured portion of bedrock directly above the hydraulically connected fracture. Results from the pumping tests yielded compressibilities of 1.3 × 10 −11 Pa −1 , and 1.7 × 10 −11 Pa −1 for the lower and upper fractures, respectively. When coupled with areal strain calculated from earth tide analyses the volumetric specific storage values are 3.2 × 10 −11 Pa −1 , and 2.8 × 10 −11 Pa −1 and the Poisson’s ratios are 0.26 and 0.31, respectively. Using this with a calculated barometric efficiency of 0.45 allows for porosity calculations of 0.02 and 0.03, respectively for the vicinity of fractures in well W-03.

Summary Contamination of groundwater by intruding seawater is a major problem in many parts of the world. This work derives novel analytical solutions for addressing this problem by extending the Girinskii–Strack concept of discharge potential to represent regional, steady-state, sharp-interface seawater intrusion in a sloping unconfined coastal aquifer. The aquifer has hydraulic conductivity K, is recharged uniformly at the rate r, receives an inflow at its land boundary and has a collector trough (or well gallery idealised as line sink) located at the distance lw from the coastline that penetrates the aquifer and draws groundwater at the rate qw. The theory rests on the approximation of a linearised gravity-part of the hydraulic potential. Analytical solutions for the discharge potential are derived, through which the hydraulic head, the flow depth and the sharp interface, and particularly the location of the interface toe, lT, are also determined. These solutions simplify to known results for the horizontal aquifer case. The utility (and robustness to uncertainty regarding the base slope) of the results in applications is demonstrated in the regional example of the Akrotiri Coastal Aquifer, Cyprus. Recasting the problem in non-dimensional form provides a relationship for the dependence of the relative interface toe location lT/lw on the appropriately normalised difference between the groundwater flow just up-gradient of the collector trough, qo, and the pumping rate, qw, given values of the base slope, r/K and Hsea/lw, where Hsea is the sea-surface elevation above the aquifer base at the coastline. That relationship frames a common groundwater management problem in coastal aquifers subject to a certain exploitation scheme, with lT as decision variable. In an exploratory demonstration study, non-dimensional sets of performance curves are calculated for the regional Akrotiri aquifer. In general, the derived analytical solutions can be used for first-order assessments of seawater intrusion vulnerability and management possibilities across a wide range of current regional coastal aquifer conditions and/or projected water demand, groundwater management and climatic change scenarios.

For proper water management in the new reclaimed areas, hydraulic parameters of both aquifer and wells related to transmissivity, specific capacity, well loss, formation loss, and water entrance velocity, as well as the relationship between these parameters are the main target after construction of production wells. In El Shab area, the Nubian Sandstone aquifer has a large range of transmissivity (from 483.12 to 1489.24 m2/day) and, also, specific capacity (from 203 to 486.32 m2/day). Relationship of specific capacity and transmissivity is constructed and the established empirical equations can be used to predict the transmissivity of the Nubian aquifer in all new proposed sites for well drilling at which the specific capacity measured without performing pumping tests. On the other hand, the drilled wells in El Shab area exhibit relatively high well losses (25%). The causes for high well losses (entrance velocity (Vn) through water well screen and the distance from the point of water entrance in the well to the point of intake in the pump) are discussed and the relationships are constructed, which seem a positive linear correlation. Relationships between well losses constant for 30 wells with transmissivity and specific capacity, are constructed. These relationships are useful for estimating hydraulic characteristics that are needed for the designs of wells and well fields and for preliminary water-resources management.

Yangqu River Coal Mine is located in the hydrogeological unit of the east of Gu Mountain. The groundwater system in this Mine includes quaternary pore aquifer group, fissure aquifer group of coal bed rock, fissure-karst aquifer group. The main aquifers include Shihezi sandstone confined aquifer, Middle Ordovician limestone fractured karst confined aquifer and the Upper Carboniferous in Taiyuan Formation thin-bedded limestone confined aquifer. The former is the main source of water-filled mine, and the later is the main aquifer to threat mining. The analysis of inrush water risk in 6# layer of Coal Mine determined the minimum elevation with pressure of exploitation. Through drainage experiments in Ordovician aquifer, mining methods are explored which are mining with pressure or mining with reducing the pressure in the “last three layers”. Through dynamic analysis of water quality in the coal mine, grasp the changes of aquifer salinity, and infer the natural recharge conditions in the aquifers. Detect water-rich region in advance for good hydrogeological forecast.

The technology of aquifer thermal energy storage(ATES) is an energy-saving technology which can provide a solution to energy shortages and resources expasion. The first key point of this technology is whether the aquifer can be use to store energy. In this paper, taking Sanhejian Coal Mine as an example, we choose Quaternary upper loose sandy porosity confined aquifer to bottom clayed glavel porosity confined aquifer as aquifers thermal energy storage, to discuss whether the aquifers can be used to store energy. The simulation results of aquifer temperature field show that the selected aquifers reach the goal of energy storage. And with the same irrigation flow, the lower the temperature, the more the cold water and the larger the low temperature region in aquifers thermal energy storage. With the same irrigation temperature, the lager the irrigation flow the more the cold water and the larger the low temperature region in aquifers thermal energy storage.

A new analytical solution is developed for describing groundwater level fluctuations in a coupled leaky confined aquifer system which consists of an unconfined aquifer, confined aquifer, and an aquitard in between. The aquifer system has a tidal boundary at the seashore, a no flow boundary at remote inland side, and a confined aquifer extending under the sea and terminated with an outlet-capping. This new solution has shown to be a generalisation of most existing analytical solutions for a tidal aquifer system which includes single confined and leaky confined aquifers. In addition, the solution is used to explore the influences of the dimensionless leakance of the outlet-capping, the dimensionless hydraulic diffusivities, and the leakages of the inland and offshore aquitards on the head responses in the leaky confined aquifer.

Surface water bodies interact with underlying aquifer systems, creating a complex flow system and flow paths. In general, a surface water body may be classified as gaining, losing, or flow through on the basis of its interaction with the surrounding aquifer. In the Nile Valley, the quaternary aquifer system is in a direct hydraulic interaction with the River Nile, canals, and drains. In this study, a regional numerical model was developed and used to evaluate the interaction between surface water bodies and the quaternary aquifer system in the Nile Valley. The solution is considered for a quasi three-dimensional, steady-state groundwater flow. The model used simulates the interaction between surface water bodies and groundwater for saturated and unsaturated flow conditions. In addition, a hydrodynamic model was used to simulate different extreme (high and low) scenarios for Nile surface water levels along the distance between Old Aswan Dam and Delta Barrages. Model calibration shows close results, and the model was used to simulate surface water levels. Results indicate that the Nile River acts as a drain for the quaternary aquifer (gaining water from the aquifer), although in the reaches upstream of the main barrages, the Nile loses the water, recharging the aquifer. All other main canals are recharging the aquifer system. The seepage rate depends mainly on the difference in piezometric head between the aquifer system and surface water bodies, as well as the hydraulic conductance of the base layer sediments of the surface water body. The model was used to evaluate the regional water balance for the Nile Valley and to estimate the surface water bodies' gains and losses.

We consider the case of pumping a semiconfined aquifer overlain by a phreatic aquifer hydraulically connected to an infinitely long and straight stream. The hydraulics of the system are described by a linearized model in which it is assumed that flow in the aquifers is essentially horizontal, and that drawdown in the phreatic aquifer is small enough to allow the water table to be sufficiently well described by the Theis equation. Fourier-Laplace transforms of drawdown are obtained and numerically inverted. Comparisons are made with another well-known analytic model of Hunt, who considered a single aquifer/aquitard system. It is observed that while both models may have excellent agreement during the initial phase of pumping, the longer-term consequences of sustained pumping are quite distinct.

Analysis of tidal effects on aquifer systems plays an important role in coastal aquifer management owing to various hydrological, engineering and environmental problems in coastal areas. Using the real-world data of unconfined and confined aquifers, a data-driven approach is presented in this study for the analysis of tide–aquifer interaction in coastal aquifers. Six analytical tide–aquifer interaction models were selected which take into account the effects of vertical beach, sloping beach, tidal loading, aquifer leakage, outlet capping, and combined leakage and outlet capping on tide-induced groundwater fluctuations. The tide–aquifer interaction datasets were obtained from the Konan groundwater basin (unconfined aquifer) of Japan and the Dridrate groundwater basin (confined aquifer) of Morocco. The analysis of the results obtained by the sloping beach model revealed that for a given beach slope, the amplitude of groundwater level increases with an increase in aquifer diffusivity and a decrease in aquifer thickness. However, no significant effect of beach slope was observed in this study at unconfined sites for all the datasets. The influence of tidal loading was found to be considerably less for all the three confined sites. Further, the analysis of the results of the leakage model indicated that with an increase in leakage into the aquifer, the amplitude of groundwater level as well as the phase shift (time lag) decreases. Of all the confined and unconfined datasets, only two confined sites were found to be affected by outlet capping. Overall, it is concluded that the coastal beach bordering the Konan basin is not significantly sloping, the contribution of tidal loading to tide-induced groundwater fluctuations in the Dridrate aquifer is not appreciable, and that the aquifer leakage and outlet capping do not exist at the unconfined sites under investigation.

Drawdown cone volume of pumping well reflects the hydro geological conditions of aquifer, such as hydraulic parameters and elastic storage for confined aquifer. During later period of pumping test in non-leaky confined aquifer, the relationship between drawdown and distance appears as straight line in plots figure, and the relationship between drawdown and time appears as straight line in plots figure. Based on Theis solution, through analyzing of the slope of curves , and integrating, volume of drawdown cone of pumping well in non-leaky confined aquifer was derived in this paper.

Introduction According to the National Research Council (2010), a significant challenge in the GISciences is the creation and development of tools that enable the results of scientific modeling to be easily understood. For science-informed decision making as well as for the purposes of informing and engaging ordinary citizens in discussions regarding geographical technologies, the National Research Council (2010) argues that it is indispensible to develop tools that can easily present scientific modeling results and translate scientific understanding into the process of decision making. Yang and Lin (2011) at the Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) address this challenge in the context of assessing the effect of pumping on changes of groundwater levels (i.e., drawdown) of a confined aquifer by making freely available the GIS-based software uWATER-PA to calculate drawdown based on the Theis equation (Theis 1935). The model was developed using the Microsoft Visual Basic 2008 programming language and implemented as an extension (add-in) to ArcGIS Explorer Desktop (AGX), a free GIS by ESRI Inc. Compared to ESRI’s flagship product ArcGIS, AGX has a simplified user interface (UI) and reduced functionality. The uWATER-PA software is built on top of the uWATER framework previously developed by the ISWS (Yang and Lin 2010). The purpose of the uWATER framework is to extend AGX by enabling the execution of both spatial and attribute query functions, which are common in a more advanced GIS (e.g., ArcGIS)

Summary A low-permeability weathered siltstone–sandstone aquifer containing brackish water was investigated to measure recoverability of injected freshwater with the aim of determining the significance of secondary porosity in contributing to groundwater flow and transport. Examination of the core, borehole geophysics, Radon-222, electromagnetic flowmeter (EMF) profiles and step-drawdown pumping tests did not identify whether fractures contribute to groundwater flow. A number of injection and recovery tests lasting from 3 days to 3 months using potable water showed a large degree of mixing with native groundwater. Withdrawal greater than 12–17% of the injected volume resulted in recovered water containing more native groundwater than injected water. A finite element solute transport model was set up to reproduce the observed salinity in recovered water. Without the inclusion of discrete fractures in the model it was not possible to get a fit between the observed and modelled salinity of recovered water within a realistic range of dispersivity values. The model was subsequently verified by using data from long-term injection and recovery trials. This evaluation of mixing conclusively demonstrated that the aquifer behaved as a fractured rock aquifer and not as an aquifer with primary porosity alone. Therefore, aquifer storage and recovery can be a very useful hydrogeological method to identify the occurrence of fracture flow in aquifers where there is a measurable concentration difference between the injected water and ambient groundwater.

A modeling study is conducted to evaluate the sensitivity of acid gas evolution in a deep saline aquifer to expected variations of multiple geologic and engineering variables. Relative permeability hysteresis, aquifer heterogeneity variance, formation water salinity, permeability of caprock and leakage wells, injection rate, regional hydraulic gradient, and formation depth are evaluated as uncertain input parameters to a three-dimensional synthetic aquifer model with fully heterogeneous permeability. To understand the effect of conceptual model uncertainty on predicting gas flow and storage, permeability of the heterogeneous model is upscaled to equivalent permeability for three increasingly homogenized stratigraphic models: an eight-unit facies model, a three-unit depositional model, and a one-unit formation model. Two upscaling methods are used: a flow-based numerical method and an analytical averaging method. Over 120 years (20 years of injection and 100 years of monitoring), multiphase compositional s...

This study derives a semianalytical solution for drawdown distribution during a constant-head test at a partially penetrating well in an unconfined aquifer. The constant-head condition is used to describe the boundary along the screen. In addition, a free-surface condition is used to delineate the upper boundary of the unconfined aquifer. The Laplace-domain solution is then derived using separation of variables and Laplace transform. This solution can be used to identify the aquifer parameters from the data of the constant-head test when integrated with an optimization scheme or to investigate the effects of vertical flow caused by the partially penetrating well and free-surface boundary in an unconfined aquifer.

The Red River Delta is one of two biggest deltas in Vietnam. People living in the delta depend entirely on groundwater for their domestic water. However, the aquifer system in the whole Red River Delta remains poorly understood due to the lack of available data. Recently, we were nominated to construct a hydrogeological database. Using these valuable data contained in this database, this paper comprehensively analyzed the best number of 778 boreholes including well logs and their hydrogeological parameters obtained from pumping tests for the first time in order to identify the entire aquifer system and characterize hydrogeological conditions in the whole delta for potential groundwater resources. Great efforts have been made to establish and analyze hydrogeological maps, cross sections, and contour maps of main aquifers’ thickness and transmissivity. As for the results, we found that groundwater mainly exists in Quaternary unconsolidated sediments as porous water forming the topmost Holocene unconfined aquifer (HUA) and the shallow Pleistocene confined aquifer (PCA) sandwiching the Holocene-Pleistocene aquitard (HPA), while cleft and karst water exist in consolidated Neogene formations and Mesozoic rocks constituting the Neogene water bearing layer (NWL) and Mesozoic fractured zones (MFZ), respectively. PCA is almost entirely distributed over the delta. It serves as the highest groundwater potential and the most important aquifer for water supply. HUA is also widely distributed about 88% over the delta and has a high groundwater potential. NWL and MFZ, placed below PCA but exposed on the surface outside the delta, are minor sources for local domestic water supply only. These findings are indispensable for further groundwater analyses needed to ensure the sustainable groundwater development for the high-security water requirements in the delta, but have never been completed sufficiently before due to the unavailability of large-scale basic data sets.

1D resistivity sounding and 2D resistivity imaging surveys were integrated with geological and hydrochemical data to assess the aquifer vulnerability and saltwater intrusion in the north of Nile Delta, Egypt. In the present study, the El-Gharbyia main drain was considered as a case study to map the sand bodies within the upper silt and clay aquitard. Twenty Schlumberger soundings and six 2D dipole–dipole profiles were executed along one profile close to the western side of the main drain. In addition, 14 groundwater samples and 4 surface water samples from the main drain were chemically analyzed to obtain the major and trace elements concentrations. The results from the resistivity and hydrochemical data were used to assess the protection of the groundwater aquifer and the potential risk of groundwater pollution. The inverted resistivities and thicknesses of the layers above the aquifer layer were used to estimate the integrated electrical conductivity (IEC) that can be used for quantification of aquifer vulnerability. According to the aquifer vulnerability assessment of an underlying sand aquifer, the southern part of the area is characterized by high vulnerability zone with slightly fresh to brackish groundwater and resistivity values of 11–23 Ω.m below the clay cap. The resistivity sections exhibit some sand bodies within the clay cap that lead to increase the recharging of surface waste water (650 mg/l salinity) and flushing the upper part of underlying saltwater aquifer. The region in the north has saltwater with resistivity less than 6 Ω.m and local vulnerable zones within the clay cap. The inverted 2D dipole–dipole profiles in the vulnerable zones, in combination with drilling information have allowed the identification of subsoil structure around the main drain that is highly affected by waste water.

An anticline, known as a convex-upward fold in layers of rock, commonly is formed during lateral compression, which may be elected as a potential site for carbon sequestration. A mathematical model is developed in this study for describing the steady-state drawdown distribution in an anticline aquifer in response to the constant-flux pumping. The topographical shape of the anticline is mimicked by three successive blocks. The solution is obtained by applying the infinite Fourier transform and the finite Fourier cosine transform in each blocks and acquiring the hydraulic continuities between the blocks. Simulated results reveal that the introduction of a thin-limbs or narrow-ridged anticline would produce a much greater head drop in the ridge zone. For a well of constant pumping rate, the dimensionless drawdown around the well increases with decreasing well screen length or/and aquifer anisotropy ratio. An examination of the effect of well location on the drawdown reveals that the partially penetrating well located at the top-middle of the ridge zone produces the largest drawdown. The simulation of the flow in an anticline aquifer based on MODFLOW results in slightly smaller drawdown values in most regions when compared with those predicted by the present solution. The present solution can also be used to simulate the flow in a slab-shaped aquifer or a hillslope aquifer. It can be applied to determine the aquifer parameters if coupled with an optimization scheme and to provide the basis for selecting a potential site for carbon sequestration in the future as well.

This paper presents new findings in interpreting analytical solutions of steady radial flow to a well in a semi-confined aquifer (overlain by a phreatic aquifer and aquitard), and demonstrates that 95% of pumped water is derived from leakage water within a radius of 4 times the leakage factor. The travel times of the leakage water from the radii of influence to the well are usually much longer than those derived from the travel time criteria currently used to delineate the well protection areas. The delineation of well protection zones based on the travel time criteria will not properly protect the source of water to the well. Therefore, the percentage of leakage water to the well is used as a new criterion to define the well protection areas. Within each well protection area, the mean residence time is used as an indicator of the renewable period of the aquifer system. Leakage-rate weighted residence times are used to calculate the mean residence time. For the safety and sustainability of drinking water supplies, groundwater in the phreatic aquifer within the radius of influence should be protected.

This article investigates the quantity of submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) from a coastal multi-layered aquifer system in response to constant rainfall infiltration. The system comprises an unconfined aquifer, a leaky confined aquifer and an aquitard between them and terminates at the coastline. An approximate analytical solution is derived based on the following assumptions: (i) flow is horizontal in the aquifers and vertical in the aquitard, and (ii) flow in the unconfined aquifer is described by nonlinear Boussinesq equation. The analytical solution is compared with numerical solutions of the strictly two-dimensional nonlinear model to validate the model assumptions used for the analytical solution. The SGD from the leaky confined aquifer increases with the inland rainfall infiltration recharge and the specific leakage of aquitard. The maximum SGD ranges from 1·87 to 10·37 m3 per day per meter of shoreline when rainfall infiltration ranges from 18·2 to 182 mm/year and the specific leakage of aquitard varies from 10−9 to 10−1 l/day. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Groundwater management needs detailed aquifer characterization, especially in semiarid costal aquifer systems that are under hydrological pressure. Our study area is in the Tordera delta, northeastern coast of Spain, where a detrital fluvio-deltaic aquifer system has been developed above granitic basement. The main purpose of this study is to characterize the complex lithological structure and the seawater intrusion state by combining hydrological information, audiomagnetotelluric (AMT) and seismic reflection and refraction models. This allowed us to provide spatially continuous information about aquifer properties and processes. Thus, we have determined the thickness and continuity of the aquifer units, as well as the morphology and depth to the basement. The models revealed that the main seawater intrusion main path is found in the western deltaic area that coincides with an existing buried paleochannel. This new result explains the anomalously high chlorine concentrations observed in the deep semiconfined aquifer more than 1,500 m inland.

The flow rate to fully screened, partially penetrating wells in an unconfined aquifer is numerically simulated using MODFLOW 2000, taking into account the flow from the seepage face and decrease in saturated thickness of the aquifer towards the well. A simple three-step method is developed to find the top of the seepage face and hence the seepage-face length. The method is verified by comparing it with the results of previous predictive methods. The results show that the component of flow through the seepage face can supply a major portion of the total pumping rate. Variations in flow rate as a function of the penetration degree, elevation of the water level in the well and the distance to the far constant head boundary are investigated and expressed in terms of dimensionless curves and equations. These curves and equations can be used to design the degree of penetration for which the allowable steady pumping rate is attained for a given elevation of water level in the well. The designed degree of penetration or flow rate will assure the sustainability of the aquifer storage, and can be used as a management criterion for issuing drilling well permits by groundwater protection authorities.

Wells screened across multiple aquifers can provide pathways for the movement of surprisingly large volumes of groundwater to confined aquifers used for public water supply (PWS). Using a simple numerical model, we examine the impact of several pumping scenarios on leakage from an unconfined aquifer to a confined aquifer and conclude that a single inactive multi-aquifer well can contribute nearly 10% of total PWS well flow over a wide range of pumping rates. This leakage can occur even when the multi-aquifer well is more than a kilometer from the PWS well. The contribution from multi-aquifer wells may be greater under conditions where seasonal pumping (e.g., irrigation) creates large, widespread downward hydraulic gradients between aquifers. Under those conditions, water can continue to leak down a multi-aquifer well from an unconfined aquifer to a confined aquifer even when those multi-aquifer wells are actively pumped. An important implication is that, if an unconfined aquifer is contaminated, multi-aquifer wells can increase the vulnerability of a confined-aquifer PWS well.

Mittelstet, Aaron R., Michael D. Smolen, Garey A. Fox, and Damian C. Adams, 2011. Comparison of Aquifer Sustainability Under Groundwater Administrations in Oklahoma and Texas. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 1-8. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2011.00524.x Abstract: We compared two approaches to administration of groundwater law on a hydrologic model of the North Canadian River, an alluvial aquifer in northwestern Oklahoma. Oklahoma limits pumping rates to retain 50% aquifer saturated thickness after 20 years of groundwater use. The Texas Panhandle Groundwater Conservation District’s (GCD) rules limit pumping to a rate that consumes no more than 50% of saturated thickness in 50 years, with reevaluation and readjustment of permits every 5 years. Using a hydrologic model (MODFLOW), we simulated river-groundwater interaction and aquifer dynamics under increasing levels of “development” (i.e., increasing groundwater withdrawals). Oklahoma’s approach initially would limit groundwater extraction more than the GCD approach, but the GCD approach would be more protective in the long run. Under Oklahoma rules more than half of aquifer storage would be depleted when development reaches 65%. Reevaluation of permits under the Texas Panhandle GCD approach would severely limit pumping as the 50% level is approached. Both Oklahoma and Texas Panhandle GCD approaches would deplete alluvial base flow at approximately 10% development. Results suggest periodic review of permits could protect aquifer storage and river base flow. Modeling total aquifer storage is more sensitive to recharge rate and aquifer hydraulic conductivity than to specific yield, while river leakage is most sensitive to aquifer hydraulic conductivity followed by specific yield.

The present study was carried out in the Khor-El-Ramlah area, in a Nubian sandstone aquifer. It is located in the western bank of Nasser Lake, southern Egypt, in a tectonically active area, which is dissected by many regional faults extending towards the lake. For this reason, the Nubian sandstone aquifer in this area is expected to be recharged by a large amount of seepage water from the lake. One important parameter used to quantify seepage is hydraulic conductivity. Since in this area there is no available information about hydraulic conductivity via pumping tests or laboratory examina- tion of core samples, an attempt is made in this study to estimate hydraulic conductivity using available resistivity logs by applying the Kozeny-Carman model. The clay contamination effect on porosity estimation has been removed via application of the Waxman-Smits model. The hydraulic conductivity is estimated to be 9.5 ± 2.5 m/day for the Nubian sandstone aquifer in this area. The present result is in agreement with the estimated and measured hydraulic conductivity values for the same aquifer in nearby areas and could be used to estimate seepage in this zone. The application of geophysical well logging often provides a cost-effective and efficient alternative to estimate aquifer parameters. out. Therefore, no information about hydraulic conductivity or seepage water quantity is known for that area. In particular, the seepage quantity is expected to be higher than in other parts around the lake due to the local dense fault system. The main objective of the present study is to estimate the hydraulic conductivity of the Nubian sandstone aquifer for this area, from the measured resistivity logs of well RML, in order to make it available for any future estimation of seepage.

Damsarkho (Latakia, Syria) coastal aquifer is under severe hydrological stress due to the overexploitation of a shallow groundwater table for irrigation and tourism. Excessive pumping during the past few decades has caused a significant lowering of groundwater levels, which has in turn lead to seawater intrusion into the aquifer. Meteoric infiltration and flow from the adjoining carbonate aquifer recharges the Damsarkho aquifer. Natural outflow occurs through a diffuse flow into the sea, while artificial outflow occurs through intensive extraction of groundwater via wells. Water exchange in the aquifer takes place both naturally (leakage) and artificially (multi-screened wells). For the purpose of planning and management, SEAWAT, a variable density solute transport computer code, was used to study groundwater volume and quality. Seawater intrusion was represented by a three-dimensional finite difference model using the SEAWAT numerical code of VisualModflow software; the conceptual model is based on field and laboratory data collected between 1960 and 2003. Results obtained from the model establish that seawater intrusion is essentially due to withdrawal near the coast during the irrigation season, which occurs almost entirely in the Damsarkho plain. This simulation also demonstrates that the use of injection wells or a subsurface barrier would both represent a good method with which to improve water quality and prevent seawater intrusion.

Summary In this study a method based on dual-well step drawdown test (i.e. a combination of an aquifer and a well performance test) for the determination of hydrodynamic parameters (namely storage coefficient and hydraulic conductivity), mechanical wellbore finite thickness skin factor, non-linear wellbore and non-linear aquifer parameters in an homogeneous confined aquifer is presented in order to put together aquifer and well tests. The interpretation procedure is based on the application of superposition principle to a large time logarithmic approximation of the solution. The advantages of this method, that can be considered an extension of Jacob step-test (1947) and Cooper–Jacob approximation (1946) , are that: (I) it is possible to determine simultaneously aquifer and well properties in a single test; (II) the method is based on a large time approximation and it is therefore independent from wellbore storage; (III) if the well skin is absent, the aquifer parameters (storage coefficient and hydraulic conductivity) can be derived just from a single-well test; (IV) the interpretation procedure is easy to apply and robust and does not require any specific numeric code or software. The same procedure can be easily adapted to gas well testing. It is also shown that, even in the presence of linear and non-linear flow, skin effect and wellbore storage, the hydraulic conductivity (and not the storage coefficient) of the aquifer can be correctly estimated by the Cooper and Jacob (1946) method applied to a single-rate pumping test, using exclusively the large time drawdown data measured at the pumping well.

Summary Observation wells around a pumping well are the primary means of monitoring the change of hydraulic head in an aquifer. Pipe flow in open observation boreholes will affect the measurement of hydraulic head in the observation wells and alter the flow patterns around the wells, but the influences of non-Darcian pipe flow in observation wells on the accuracy of hydraulic head measurements are not fully recognized. This paper presents a coupled seepage-pipe flow theory which integrates the aquifer and well as a continuous medium for assessing the influences. The objective of this study is to examine the pipe-flow effects in observation wells of varied diameters under several pumping scenarios including different penetration lengths of the pumping well. A numerical model based on the Galerkin finite element method and the finite difference method was developed for the study. Numerical simulations were conducted for a homogeneous and isotropic confined aquifer in which a pumping well penetrated a different thickness of the aquifer and a number of full penetrating observation wells were placed to obtain drawdowns. The simulation results indicated that vertical pipe flow within the observation wells was significant and the flow was non-linear. The pipe flow resulted in a conduit effect that disturbed the distribution of the hydraulic head within the observation wells. After comparing with the results of the Hantush (1961) integral by using the case study, which neglected the wellbore effect on the groundwater flow system, the authors found that the Hantush integral may be only conditionally applicable for estimating the drawdown within the observation wells when well diameter is greater than 0.20 m and radial distance is greater than the thickness of the aquifer. Our study suggests that use of hydraulic heads from observation wells for the evaluation of groundwater flow systems must be cautious before the pipe-flow effect can be assumed to be negligible.

Overexploitation of shallow aquifers on the Syrian coast, north of Latakia (Damsarkho) for irrigation and tourism has caused an intrusion of seawater. The seawater intrusion into this aquifer has been presented by a three-dimensional finite element model using the FEFLOW numerical code. This conceptual model is based on field and laboratory data collected during the period 1966–2003. Meteoric infiltration and flows from the adjoining carbonate aquifer recharge the aquifer; natural outflow occurs through a diffuse flow into the sea; and artificial outflow occurs through intensive extraction of groundwater from wells. Water exchanges in the aquifer occur naturally (leakage) and artificially (multi-screened wells). The model was calibrated for transient conditions. The model helped establish that seawater intrusion is essentially due to withdrawals near the coast during the irrigation season and that it mainly occurs in the Damsarkho plain. The effects of hypothetical aquifer exploitation were assessed in terms of salt budget.

Climate changing and associated factors combined with considerably increases in water demand have been accompanied by severe depletion of reservoir storage of the most groundwater supplies of Iran. Shahriar aquifer in west of Tehran is a representative aquifer of these kinds. In order to meet water demand of the area and protecting groundwater from quantity and quality deterioration, precision recognition of geology, hydrologic and hydrogeologic characteristics of the aquifer is first step. The basic objective of this study is to develop the hydrogeological framework of the groundwater system in Shariar, Iran and to estimate groundwater balance as a scientific database for future water resources delevopment programs. Based on this research lateral groundwater inflows, direct infiltration of rainfall, stream bed infiltration, irrigation return and surplus drinking and industrial water are the recharging factors of the aquifer. Subsurface outflows, domestic and industrial pumping wells and agricultural abstraction are the main parameters discharge the aquifer system. Water balance in the Shahriar aquifer system is in disequilibrium and a deficit of about 24.7 million cubic meters exists.

33 large-diameter wells embedded in 2-m thick, 63-m deep diaphragm walls were constructed to reduce both the uplift pressures and the groundwater inflow during the excavations. As the actual thickness of the pumped aquifer is unknown, the installed wells are regarded as partial penetration wells. Single-well and multi-well pumping tests were conducted in the deep gravel formation of Taipei Basin to derive the hydraulic parameters and to investigate the drawdown characteristics at both the construction and remote sites. However, the tidal effect on the drawdown of both the pumping well and nearby observation wells was found significant. Additionally, wellbore storage, skin, and leakage need to be taken into account for deriving the hydraulic parameters. Hence, a method to remove these five factors influencing the drawdown curve is developed, which takes advantage from the late-time characteristics of drawdown data and the early-time behavior of drawdown. Some currently available semi-log graphic techniques are therefore proven applicable for parameter determination. Validity of the proposed method is verified by the good agreement between the calculated and the measured drawdown of both the pumping well and observation well.

A comparative study is made among Laplace Transform Technique (LTT) and Fourier Transform Technique (FTT) to obtain one-dimensional analytical solution for conservative solute transport along unsteady groundwater flow in semi-infinite aquifer. The time-dependent source of contaminant concentration is considered at the origin and at the other end of the aquifer is supposed to be zero. Initially, aquifer is not solute free which means that the solute concentration exits in groundwater system and it is assumed as a uniform concentration. The aquifer is considered homogeneous and semi-infinite. The time-dependent velocity expressions are considered. The result may be used as preliminary predictive tools in groundwater management and benchmark the numerical code and solutions.

The groundwater is the only source of availability of fresh water in tiny coral islands. In the past decades, there has been growing demand for fresh water to meet the need of domestic besides other purposes. The aquifer system on these islands is fragile besides being subjected to various stresses like high subsurface discharge, increased abstraction, improper disposal of waste water and tidal waves of ocean all of which subject the aquifer prone to sea water intrusion and thus reduction and deterioration the water quality. Therefore, understanding the aquifer’s behavior and then work out a sustainable option for fresh water is essential. The paper concerns optimizing of pumping and artificial recharge paces to reduce the effects of various stresses over tiny and fragile lens-shaped coral island aquifer system. The density driven ground water flow was simulated using SEAWAT (MODFLOW and MT3D based computer program) model. Detailed hydrogeological investigations were carried out to determine the quantity of freshwater that could be pumped to avoid the seawater intrusion into the aquifer through modeling. Initial heads, physical parameters and boundary conditions of the study area have been defined in the model based on field data, geophysical measurements and interpretations and hydrogeological studies. The model was calibrated by obtaining a match of computed and observed values of the water table, as hydraulic head is much more sensitive to pumping rates than any other stress. A few sentences about: flow model were utilized to derive optimal pumping rate; the effect of artificial recharge through the model, has also proved that the salt-water intrusion could be stopped by raising the water level through temporarily storing the artificially recharged water post construction of subsurface dam near the coast.

Water level fluctuations induced by tidal strains can be analyzed to estimate the elastic properties, porosity, and transmissivity of the surrounding aquifer material. We review underutilized methods for estimating aquifer properties from the confined response to earth tides. The earth tide analyses are applied to an open well penetrating a confined carbonate aquifer. The resulting range of elastic and hydraulic aquifer properties are in general agreement with that determined by other investigators for the area of the well. The analyses indicate that passive monitoring data from wells completed in sufficiently stiff, low porosity formations can provide useful information on the properties of the surrounding formation.

This paper presents analytical solution of one-dimensional linearized Boussinesq equation characterizing unsteady groundwater flow in an unconfined aquifer, overlying an impervious downward sloping bed. At one end, the aquifer is in contact with a constant water level and at the other end; water level is rising exponentially from an adjoining stream. The aquifer also receives constant or cycle of time-varying vertical recharge. Analytical expressions for hydraulic head and flow rate in the aquifer are obtained by solving the seepage model using Laplace transform. The expressions derived here can explain sudden rise or very slow rise in the stream water related to sloping or horizontal beds and are represented under asymptotic case. Response of a short and long aquifer to the variation in bed slope, recharge rate and rise rate of the stream water is illustrated with the help of numerical examples. The sensitivity of the flow rate is also analyzed with respect to various parameters.

International audience; A method to estimate aquifer thickness and hydraulic conductivity has been developed, consisting of multiple pumping tests. The method requires shortduration pumping cycles on an unconfined aquifer with significant seasonal water-table fluctuations. The interpretation of several pumping tests at a site in India under various initial conditions provides information on the change in hydrodynamic parameters in relation to the initial water-table level. The transmissivity linearly decreases compared with the initial water level, suggesting a homogeneous distribution of hydraulic conductivity with depth. The hydraulic conductivity is estimated from the slope of this linear relationship. The extrapolation of the relationship between transmissivity and water level provides an estimate of the aquifer thickness that is in good agreement with geophysical investigations. The hydraulically active part of the aquifer is located in both the shallow weathered and the underlying densely fractured zones of the crystalline basement. However, no significant relationship is found between the aquifer storage coefficient and initial water level. This new method contributes to filling the methodological gap between single pumping tests and hydraulic tomography, in providing information on the variation of the global transmissivity according to depth. It can be applied to any unconfined aquifer experiencing large seasonal water-table fluctuations and short pumping cycles.

Boggs, Kevin G., Robert W. Van Kirk, Gary S. Johnson, Jerry P. Fairley, and P. Steve Porter, 2010. Analytical Solutions to the Linearized Boussinesq Equation for Assessing the Effects of Recharge on Aquifer Discharge. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 46(6):1116–1132. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2010.00479.x Abstract: There is a need to develop a general understanding of how variations in aquifer recharge are reflected in discharge. Analytical solutions to the linearized Boussinesq equation governing flow in an unconfined aquifer provide a unified mathematical framework to quantify relationships among lag time, attenuation and distance between aquifer recharge and discharge and the effect of an up-gradient no-flow boundary. We applied this framework to three types of recharge: (1) instantaneous, (2) periodic, and (3) constant rate for a finite duration. When the temporal scale of recharge exceeds the diffusive aquifer time scale, recharge will be reflected in discharge quickly and with little attenuation. When aquifer time scale is large, most recharge events are shorter in scale than that of the aquifer, resulting in large attenuation. Attenuation is more sensitive to boundary effects than lag time, and boundary effects increase as recharge time scale increases. Boundary effects can often be ignored when the recharge source is farther than 1/3 of the domain length away from the no-flow boundary. We illustrate analytical results with application to the economically critical Eastern Snake River Plain Aquifer in Idaho. In this aquifer, detectable annual and decadal cycles in discharge can result from recharge no farther than 20 and 60 km away from the discharge point, respectively. The effects of more distant, long-term recharge can be detected only after a time lag of several decades.

This paper reviews, compiles and comprehensively analyzes spatial variations in hydrogeologic characteristics of shallow and deep groundwater aquifers in Kathmandu Valley. To estimate transmissivity (T) (and then hydraulic conductivity) as a function of specific capacity (SC), an empirical relationship between T and SC is developed for shallow and deep aquifer. The results show that T and SC are log linearly related by an equation T = 0.8857(SC)1.1624 [R2 = 0.79] in shallow and T = 1.1402(SC)1.0068 [R2 = 0.85] in deep aquifer. The estimated T ranges from 163 to 1,056 m2/day in shallow aquifer and 22.5 to 737 m2/day in deep aquifer. Finally, mapping of spatial distribution in hydrogeologic characteristics (thickness, T, hydraulic conductivity and storage coefficient) in shallow and deep aquifers are accomplished using ArcGIS9.2 and such maps would be useful in delineating potential areas for groundwater development and simulating groundwater flow in the aquifer system.

An analytical solution is presented for water table fluctuation between ditch drains in presence of exponential recharge and depth-dependent evapotranspiration (ET) from groundwater table in a two-...

Poorly constructed wells (leaky or without a gravel pack) and abandoned wells can behave as conduits for the interconnection of aquifers at different depths and facilitate the transfer of contaminants between these aquifers. This is the case with Campo de Cartagena (SE Spain) where the primary land use is intensive irrigated agriculture, along with a high density of wells. The unconfined aquifer is heavily impacted by a high concentration of nitrate associated with agricultural activities. The present work provides a methodological approach to evaluate the impact of the unconfined aquifer on the water quality of the confined aquifer caused by leaky wells in high-density areas of production wells. The research approach included the use of geochemical and isotopic tools; specifically, nitrate was used as a tracer for evaluating the impact, and the code MIX_PROGRAM was used for mixing calculations. Results show an increase of the impact of the unconfined aquifer on the confined aquifer along the groundwater flow direction toward the coast, although this general pattern is controlled by local factors (pumping, intensity of agricultural practices, density of wells, and groundwater residence time).

Problem statement: The Iranshahr aquifer consists of an unconfined la yer. We simulated groundwater flow of the Iranshahr aquifer in a conc eptual model. This model is a suitable tool for management of groundwater system and would also be effective when applied in other countries. Approach: In this study, we constructed the conceptual model of Iranshahr aquifer, which is important and applicable in environmental studies. We used th e automatic parameter estimation method and hydraulic head observation through calibration in o rder to identify the best parameter values. During the calibration, the optimized values of the parame ters obtained. 24 parameters estimated by means of regression and the rest remaining unestimated parameters optimized using the trial-and-error method. Results: The results of the model show a good fit between o bservation and simulated values. Automated calibration procedure estimated the hydra ulic parameters of the aquifer. Conclusion: The optimized values and the zonation of the hydraulic parameters of the aquifer showed the best areas for developing and extracting groundwater from the aquifer taking the optimized hydraulics values into account.

This work presents a two-dimensional horizontal plane model of seawater intrusion into a heterogeneous coastal unconfined aquifer under the spatially random recharge condition from a stochastic point of view. The stochastic response of the coastal unconfined aquifer is attributed to uncertainties related to the heterogeneity of aquifer properties and spatial variability of the recharge. Based on the sharp-interface assumption, analytical expressions for the variances of the seawater-freshwater interface elevation and specific discharge in the longitudinal and transverse directions are developed using the perturbation approximation and spectral Fourier-Stieltjes nonstationary representations. We focus on the study of the impact of the heterogeneity of aquifer properties and recharge on these results.