Introduction to Hydrogeology

GROUNDWATER : DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES

Water
on the
ground?

? ? ? ? ?

What is groundwater ?
 What is Groundwater?
• Groundwater is water stored in the pore spaces of the soil and rock
• The porosity is the volume of voids / volume of the rock
 What is Groundwater?
• Rocks that supply ‘useful’ quantities of groundwater are called aquifers
• Permeability (hydraulic conductivity) is a measure of the flow rate of
groundwater through the rock mass and depends on the size and degree of
interconnection of the pore spaces
Groundwater fluxes and the water balance
 What is Groundwater?
• Rainwater that infiltrates into the soil / rock becomes either soil moisture
in the vadose zone and or groundwater in the phreatic zone.
 Aquifers
• Aquifers may be unconfined or confined. Aquifers may have primary or
secondary porosity. Rocks / soil that impede the flow of water are called
aquitards.
 Confined / Unconfined Aquifers

Fig 6 .2 1 C ro ss-se c tio n sh o win g g ro u n d wa te r flo ws fro m sh a le s

in to sa n d sto n e d u e to h yd ra u lic h e a d d istrib u tio n.
Groundwater Flow

Darcy’s Law: Groundwater flows under

gravity down the hydraulic gradient
from high head to low head.
Q, the discharge = A (cross sectional
area of flow) x dh/dl (hydraulic
gradient) x K (hydraulic conductivity of
the aquifer)
 Some important definitions:
• η = porosity Vol voids / Vol sample
• ηe = effective porosity – those pores through which flow occurs
• Κ = hydraulic conductivity m/day
• Sy = specific yield – the vol. water drained from aquifer under gravity drainage.
(dim)
• Ss = specific storage is the amount of water released from a confined aquifer
per unit change of head – due to compressibility of aquifer skeleton and water.
(m-1)
• S = storativity of a confined aquifer is the product of the specific storage S s and
the aquifer thickness (b)
• Q = discharge m3 / day
• Q = v A where v is the flow velocity and A is the cross sectional area
• V = specific discharge m/day
• Vx = average linear velocity = Q / η e A m/day
• Average linear velocity is ? > or < the specific discharge??
Groundwater Flow
 Groundwater flow

• Groundwater flows under gravity in continuous slow

movement from recharge areas (usually upland areas) to
discharge areas (springs, baseflow, wetlands and coastal
zones).
 Flow lines in a homogenous isotropic aquifer

Exercise: Draw in piezometric heads for wells at

the same location but with different well depths.
 Piezometric levels in the same aquifer.

Draw in the elevations along the vertical axes down to – 60m

Give the Elevation Head, Pressure Head, and Total Head for the Groundwater
at points A to F.
Transboundary Aquifer Systems

Source: UNESCO / ISARM 2001

 Flow lines in a homogenous isotropic aquifer

Exercise: Draw in piezometric heads for wells at

the same location but with different well depths.
 Piezometric levels in the same aquifer.

Draw in the elevations along the vertical axes down to – 60m

Give the Elevation Head, Pressure Head, and Total Head for the Groundwater
at points A to F.
Inter-linkages between surface water and groundwater
 Groundwater baseflow and stream flow.

Groundwater discharge to streams is known as

baseflow, and often forms the main component
of dry season flow

The more permeable the catchment,

the greater the contribution of the
baseflow component.
What happens when you start to pump groundwater?
 Abstraction from a confined aquifer

In this case drawdown (denoted by the symbol s) is measured from the

piezometric surface. The horizontal component is denoted by r and is
measured radially from the well.
 steady unconfined flow

If the drawdown is small when compared to the thickness of the aquifer, the
situation may be considered as similar to the previous section, namely steady
confined flow
 Groundwater
•Positive points
•Vast stored groundwater resources
•Usually available at point needed
•Relative low cost compared to surface water
•Potable without treatment
•Employs low cost technologies
•Drought resistant – no evaporation
•Requires little land
•Negative points
•Storage & conveyance only
•Must be pumped
•Limited flows
•Mineralized
•Difficult & expensive to assess
 Groundwater Storage
The groundwater resource is vast:-
many times the size of surface water resources
Regional distribution of global
fresh water resources

Quelle: Igor A. Shiklomanov, State Hydrological Institute (SHI,

St. Petersburg) and UNESCO (Paris), 1999.
 Groundwater – widespread availability
• Widely dispersed – suitable for rural development
• Accelerated development has resulted in great social and economic benefits,
providing low-cost, drought-reliable high-quality water supplies
 Groundwater:
available everywhere & drought resistant
• Many perennial streams would stop flowing in the dry season
without groundwater discharge as base-flow.
 Groundwater: staging of development
Capital costs spaced as demand rises Large capital outlay
Groundwater: difficult to assess; difficult to manage.
 Groundwater Status Quo
• Millions of m3 pumped every year
– Monitored? Why? Who? How? Use? quantity / quality
• 100’s of thousands of users
– Registered? Controlled?
• 10’s of thousands of wells / boreholes
– Registered? Maintained? Information - location, abstraction, water levels,
water quality, formation etc -
• 1000’s of sources of pollution
– Location, nature & quantity of pollutants? aquifer vulnerability?
• 100’s of drillers / consultants
– Registered? Development & drilling data recorded & submitted?
• 10’s of characterization parameters
– Sampled / Analysed? Monitored? Equipped to analyse?
• Many governing departments /institutions
– Joint management ? Coordination / cooperation?
• Unified appreciation & integrated management
 GROUNDWATER : DIFFERENT INTERESTS

Reliable
Regional
supply and
Groundwater development
good quality
resources
management: Reduce
Full cost conflicts
recovery

Enough Aquifer
water at recharge
low cost & safe yield
Equal
access for Protect
the poor Base flows
Industry National Water
Policy Makers

Water Regional/Local
Utilities Water Managers

Groundwater
Farmers Experts
Environmental
Local NGO
NGOS
Groundwater Flow.

Groundwater flows from

recharge areas to discharge
areas. Recharge areas tend to
be on the interfluves, while
discharge areas tend to be in
river valleys. However
groundwater flows are often
not controlled by the
topography, especially in
extensive sedimentary aquifer
systems.
Groundwater occurence
 Groundwater
•Positive points
•Vast stored groundwater resources
•Usually available at point needed
•Drought resistant – no evaporation
•Relative low cost compared to surface water
•Employs low cost technologies
•Potable without treatment
•Requires little land
•Negative points
•Storage & conveyance only
•Must be pumped
•Limited flows
•Mineralized
•Difficult & expensive to assess
 Exercise
• An unconfined aquifer has a specific yield of 0.19. During a severe drought, the
water table declines as follows: Area A 23 km2 – avg. decline 0.94 m; area B 12
km2 – avg. decline 1.24 m; area C 52 km2 – avg. decline 1.96 m; area D 69 km2 –
avg decline 2.34 m. Calculate the total volume of water lost from the aquifer
during the drought.

• A confined aquifer has a specific storage (Ss) of 2.3 x 10-6 m-1 and a thickness of
78m. How much water would it yield if the piezometric surface declined by an
avg. 1.75m over an circular area with radius 1350m? The Storativity (S –
dimensionless) of the aquifer is given by
S = Ss x b where b is the thickness of the aquifer.
Vw (volume of water discharged) = S x A (surface area) x ∆h (avg. decline in
head)
Ss = ρwg(α + ηβ) where ρw is the density of water, g is the acceleration of
gravity, α is the compressibility of the aquifer 1/(N/m2) , η is the porosity and β is
the compressibility of water.
Exercise: In the figure below, for locations A, B, C, D, E and F give values for the
Elevation Head; Pressure Head and the Total Head.
Identify a recharge point, R, in the figure. And a discharge point, D.
Draw in three flow lines from points X, Y and Z.
Draw flow lines showing the major groundwater movement.
Draw flowlines showing the major groundwater movement.
Comment on the difference with the last image
Exercise: Fig 4.31 is a map showing groundwater elevations in wells in an
unconfined aquifer at Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The aquifer is in good hydraulic
connection with Lake Michigan, which has a surface elevation of 580 masl. Lakes
and streams are shown on the map.
1. Make a water table contour map with a 50m contour interval, starting with
550m.
2. Draw 5 flow lines at right angles to the groundwater contours, showing the
flow pattern.
3. Can you suggest a reason why the water levels are below lake level at some
points?
Kh avg = Sum Khmbm / b Kv avg = b / Sum bm / Kvm

Horizontal and Vertical Hydraulic Conductivity…

 Exercise

• An aquifer has three different formations: Formation A has a thickness of

10m and a hydraulic conductivity of 2.1 m/day. Formation B has a
thickness of 5m, and a conductivity of 26 m/day. Formation C has a
thickness of 7m and a conductivity of 6m/day. Assume that each
individual formation is homogenous and isotropic. Compute both the
overall horizontal and vertical hydraulic conductivities.
 GROUNDWATER: OUR LARGEST RESRVOIR
41 (1000 km3/yr)
Storage (1000 km3)
Surface water 230 8

33 30
Groundwater 3500 SEA

400m
3
Groundwater 4500 3

• 30 km3/yr equals a fluctuation of 2 m/yr (porosity 0,10),

• Fluctuation of 1m on 20% of the earth’s surface: 3000 km3 of storage
 Surface water <> groundwater : storage

Type of Natural/ Installed Annual Used

storage Artificial capacity Recharge capacity
(km3) (km3/yr) (km3/yr)

Natural
Surface water (rivers & lakes) 225,000 8,000 2,000

Artificial
(Large dams) 6.000 3,800

Natural
Ground water (< 400 meters) 3,500.000 300,0000 3.000

Artificial 20-50 20-50

(MAR)

Sources: Gleick (2000) , IWMI (2000), IGRAC (2006)

Introduction to Hydrogeology

IWRM M.Sc Program