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IAEA-CN-151/125
International Symposium on Advances in Isotope Hydrology and its role insustainable Water Resources Management,Vienna, Austria, 21-25 May, 2007
Tritium as an indicator of groundwater overexploitation in a tropicalkarst aquifer
L. F. Molerio León
CESIGMA, S.A.,PO Box 6219, CP 10600, Habana 6,La Habana, Cuba
Abstract.
Overexploitation of two huge Cuban karst aquifers is derived from Tritium sampling and isotope balancemodeling. During the dry season no
3
H activity was measured in the ground waters discharged at the springs oreither at some of the observation wells. Occasionally very high values for
3
H were recorded. These values arestrongly correlated with rainfall that took place at the 1980 decade or a little older. On the other hand,
3
H activitylinked with present precipitation has been also recorded. Therefore a good mixture of water of different origin andresidence time moves through the aquifer. The change in the isotopic composition therefore, has been interpreted asan indicator of overexploitation as far as waters that are not replenished during the present hydrological cycle arepumped out of the aquifer. Residence time modeling applying Maloszewski and Zuber, [1,2] and Zuber andMaloszewski, [3] lumped model approach fits these no Tritium spring waters with waters with around 100 years of residence time. A more general conclusion is derived from the results obtained in the last years in both poljesrelative to the mixing hydrodynamics in karst aquifers were flow stratification is associated with cave levels thusallowing that under certain conditions, old ground waters prevail in the mixing allowing important losses of groundwater reserves that are not replenished during the present hydrological cycle.
1. Introduction
During the last decade Cuba has suffered a large hydrological drought. In the particular case of the VentoBasin, a karstic polje of about 325 km
2
, ground water levels has shown a sustained decline, several wellsbecame completely dry, and the yield of the Vento springs averaging 3 m
3
 /s in the dry season has reducedto about 1 m
3
 /s. The isotopic composition of groundwater has dramatically changed and very old waters(with no Tritium) began to appear systematically during the last months of each dry season (February-April) at the springs that constitute the natural discharge of the aquifer.The Vento Basin (Fig. 1) is one of the four aquifers supplying fresh water to La Habana, the capital of Cuba (2,1 million inhabitants) since the last 100 years. The recorded change in the isotopic compositiontherefore, has been interpreted as an indicator of overexploitation as far as waters that are not replenishedduring the present hydrological cycle are pumped out of the aquifer. Residence time modeling [1-3]lumped model approach fits these no Tritium spring waters with waters with around 100 years of residence time. The continuous use of waters with so slow natural replenishment has largely contributedto the depletion of the aquifer.During the IAEA´s project ARCAL XIII a similar result was previously obtained by the author and hiscolleagues [4,5] in the contiguous polje of Jaruco in 1993, were the hydrogeological structure is verysimilar to that of the Vento Basin. In that case environmental isotope techniques provided a useful tool tothe decision-makers to sustain the exploitation of the El Gato well field, an important abstraction systemwith a summary yield of about 3 m
3
 /s.
1
 
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After these results the application of isotope techniques to determine the mean residence time of groundwaters involved in the supply of the Capital city of Cuba was extended to the involved aquifers. The mainobjective of those studies [6-12] was to determine if the same problem detected in Jaruco-Aguacate basinwas eventually a more generalized hydrogeological problem and, in that case, to identify the correctivemeasures to sustain the exploitation of those aquifers. The contiguous Vento basin was selected becauseof its similar geologic, hydrogeologic and geomorphologic structure.
FIG. 1. Vento Basin showing sampling points and reference locations (after [10]).
.However, a more general conclusion is
 
derived from the results obtained in the last years in both poljesrelative to the mixing hydrodynamics in karst aquifers were flow stratification is associated with cavelevels thus allowing that under certain conditions, old ground waters prevail in the mixing allowingimportant losses of ground water reserves that are not replenished during the present hydrological cycle.Overexploitation of groundwater is a primary focus of attention for decision makers. The effect of groundwater resources depletion on food security and health is of particular importance in islands andsmall islands dependent primarily of rain to recharge the aquifers. In karst regions were surface watersdoes not exist the problem becomes strong dependent both from the adequate managing of thegroundwater resource and of the availability of recharge water.The effect of the sustained droughts experienced by the Humid Tropics in the last years has largelyaffected the availability of drinking water of adequate quality. Some discussions around the problemfocused their attention whether or not those droughts are random phenomena or are linked with climatechange. Despite theoretical considerations, the onset of old waters not linked with the presenthydrological cycle clearly shows that those aquifers are becoming more and more stressed byoverexploitation. Records show that in several aquifers of Western Cuba, old waters becomesystematically prevalent in the water mixture. When they dominate the mixture, groundwater mining is anirreversible result. A recent review of the capability of isotope techniques for groundwater exploitationstudies is due to Seiler [13].
2. The differentiated response of karst aquifers to recharge and overexploitation
It is supposed that when more water than that entering the aquifer is extracted, the available resourcesbecome systematically exhausted or its quality deteriorated, but the concept is incomplete because it isknown that overexploitation can occur even when recharge is greater than abstraction because of badmanagement practices. A more general agreement states that overexploitation of groundwater takes placewhen a limit in volume, yield or water quality is surpassed. Therefore beyond those limits, some sideeffects -usually ambiguously defined as
“undesirable affects”
- due to overexploitation appear, e.g:systematic groundwater level decline that in turn causes the exhaustion of springs and the abandon of water wells; loss of water quality and, in turn, contamination of the productive aquifer and subsidence.
 
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 For water supply purposes, this limit is often called “safe yield” or “groundwater resource”.Conventionally overexploitation should take place when this boundary is surpassed, but experience showthat sometimes water is abstracted beyond this limit and no side “undesirable” effects become apparent.Therefore the concept of overexploitation which is important to know with the kind of problem managersare dealing with, falls into a category of ambiguous definitions, v.gr.: the limit established by the “safeyield” and the safe yield itself; the limit established by the managing practices and the limit established bythe water quality that is particularly needed.The safe yield of the aquifers is defined as the quantity of water that can be extracted annually of anaquifer without producing undesirable effects [14]. As Todd points out, this intuitive definition is morecomplex of that than at first sight it seems, since
“there can be more than an undesired result effect … thesafe may be limited to an amount less than the net amount of water supplied to the basin and that the safe yield can vary as the conditions governing it vary”
[14:201]. The concept is completed when he pointsout that
"the safe yield cannot exceed the long time mean annual water supply to the basin…Extractionsexceeding this supply must come from storage within the aquifer”
. And continues
“… in any one year thedraft can exceed the recharge without causing permanent depletion. But on a long-term basis, whenseries of wet and dry years would tend to average out, the draft becomes an overdraft if the mean supplyis exceeded”
[14:201].But as Adams and MacDonald [15] have pointed out,
“certain aquifers are more susceptible tooverexploitation than others –equally certain managing practices are conducive to overexploitation”
.Karst aquifers, particularly those of the Humid Tropics fall in this category because the particular way inwhich groundwater flow is organized in them.In a regional karst aquifer system groundwater converging from different local and subregional flowsystems do not necessarily contributes continuously to ground water resources (Fig. 2). This singularitymeans that different parts of the aquifer behave differently in time and space. In fact, according to thedegree of karst development, its distribution within the aquifer, its relation with local erosion base levelsand the way they module the recharge inputs, karst aquifers show very complex hydrodynamic responses.Under certain boundary conditions some of the local flow systems and even its associated epikarst couldseasonally or inter annually become saturated by water or be completely dry. This changing behavior isnot necessarily reflected in the yield of springs or in the water level decline. The generally bigfluctuations recorded in groundwater levels -sometimes associated with the effect of hurricanes or heavyrains- of large regional karst flow systems masks the actual behavior of the aquifer. Some cave levels orlocal flow systems become hydrological active by several months or years leading to an erroneousassessment of groundwater reserves and therefore to the establishment of an abstraction plan based on anerroneous safe yield estimation that eventually could lead to overexploitation.
FIG. 2. Recharge patterns of a karst aquifer (slightly modified after [16]).
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