GROUNDWATER
1 The occurrence of groundwater
Rainfall – where does it go?
Most of the precipitation that reaches the ground surface is absorbed by the surface layer
of the soil. The remainder, once any depression storage has been filled, will flow over the
surface as overland flow, reaching the stream channels quite quickly. The water that
infiltrates into the soil may subsequently be evaporated, or flow laterally close to the
surface as throughflow, or else it may percolate under gravity to the groundwater body.
What is Groundwater:
All water that occurs naturally below the earth’s surface is called sub-surface water,
whether it occurs in the saturated or unsaturated zones. Water in the saturated zone, that
is to say below the water table, is called groundwater.
Figure 1 Vertical Zones of Subsurface Water
Groundwater can be characterized according to vertical distribution, as shown in Fig 1,
which indicates the main divisions of subsurface water.
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4 main zones:
1. Soil zone – unsaturated except during heavy period of infiltration
2. Intermediate zone – between soil & capillary zone, connects/links btw a near-ground
surface region and the near-water-table region through which infiltrating fluids must pass.
3. Capillary zone – almost all the pores are full of water
4. Saturated zone
Why is groundwater important?
1- in some areas, it is the only source of water.
2- It represents a major proportion of the earth’s usable water resources.
2 Aquifer
An aquifer is a groundwater-bearing formations sufficiently permeable to transmit and yield
water in usable quantities. The most common aquifer materials are unconsolidated sands
and gravels, which occur in alluvial valleys, old stream beds covered by fine deposits
(buried valleys) and coastal plains. Other good aquifer materials are sandstones and
cavernous limestones with solution channels and highly fractured rocks (such as granite
and materials of volcanic origin). The study of water flow in aquifers and the
characterization of aquifers is hydrogeology.
Figure 2 Schematic cross section illustrating unconfined and confined aquifers (Bedient,
2002)
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Types of aquifers
1. Unconfined Aquifer:
These are also called free, phreatic or water-table aquifers. In these aquifers,
the upper surface of the zone of saturation is under atmospheric pressure and
is constituted by the water table. The water level in a well penetrating an
unconfined aquifer does not rise above the water table.
2. Confined Aquifer:
In these aquifers, groundwater is confined under pressure greater than
atmospheric by overlying impervious or semipervious strata. A confined aquifer
is sandwiched between two layers of much less pervious material, called the
aquicludes and aquitards.
Aquiqludes are impermeable confining layers.
Aquitards are semi permeable confining layer; other terms: confining layer.
3 Physical Properties of Aquifers
1. Storage coefficient, S
Defined as the volume of water yielded per unit horizontal area and per unit
drop of water table (for unconfined aquifers) or piezometric surface (for
confined aquifers).
Also known as specific yield (Sy), which is the volume of water released from a
unit volume of saturated aquifer material drained by a falling water table (a
applicable to unconfined aquifers only).
Sy of unconfined aquifers may yield from a few percent for fractured rock to as
much as 30% for unconsolidated materials of uniform particle size.
The S value of confined aquifers are relatively small and often in the range of
0.01 to 0.00005.
2. Hydraulic conductivity, K
The hydraulic conductivity of a soil or rock depends on a variety of physical
factors and is an indication of an aquifer’s ability to transmit water. Thus, sand
aquifers have K values many orders of magnitude larger than clay unit. Table
1 indicates representative values of K for a variety of materials. As can be seen,
K can vary many orders of magnitude in an aquifer that may contain different
types of material. Thus, velocities and flow rates can also vary over the same
range, as expressed by Darcy’s Law.
Permeability, Ki (or k)
The permeability of a porous medium is the ease with which fluid can flow
through the medium (also referred to as intrinsic permeability). It is dependent
only on the physical properties of the porous medium. Intrinsic permeability Ki
can be related to hydraulic conductivity by
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K
Ki = (1)
g
where = dynamic viscosity
= fluid density
g = gravitational constant
Table 1 Representative Values of Hydraulic Conductivity ( K)
Hydraulic Conductivity K
Unconsolidated Sediments
(cm/sec)
Well-sorted gravel 1 to 10-2
Well-sorted sands and glacial outwash 10-1 to 10-3
Silty sands, fine sands 10-3 to 10-5
Silt, sandy silt, clayey sands, till 10-4 to 10-6
Clay 10-6 to 10-9
Note on units: 1 m/sec = 1 x 10 cm/sec = 3.28 ft/sec = 2.12 x 10 6 gal/day/ft2
2
3. Transmissivity, T
Transmissivity is a term often used in ground water hydraulics as applied to
confined aquifers. It is the rate at which water is transmitted through its unit
width under a unit hydraulic gradient. It is defined as the product of K and the
thickness of aquifer, D (in some books: b ). Unit of T is m2/day (or ft2/day).
T = KD (2)
4 Darcy’s Law
Groundwater is almost always in motion, although the velocities are very small.
Groundwater moves in horizontal or lateral directions at velocities generally range from 1
to 500 m/year.
In analyzing the subsurface movement of water, the actual tortuous paths of the water
molecules as they flow through the pores, cracks and crevices of other aquifer material
are taken as smooth paths as if the water molecules moved right through the solid
particles. The Darcy velocity v , is expressed as:
h
v = K (3)
L
where v = Darcy velocity (m/day)
K = Hydraulic conductivity of the aquifer material (m/day)
h
= Hydraulic gradient (change of hydraulic head along the length of the flow
L
path
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Figure 3 shows a system of linear, parallel streamlines below a water table in a vertical
cross section of an aquifer parallel to the direction of flow. The flow does not change with
distance (notice the straight and parallel streamlines) and is called uniform flow.
Nonuniform flow changes with distance and streamlines may curve, diverge, or converge.
The one-dimensional flow shown in Fig 3 is also assumed to be steady. If the flow changes
with time, the flow is called unsteady or transient.
Figure 3 Vertical cross section of
groundwater flow with linear, parallel
streamlines
If piezometers are placed at two points on a streamline (points 1 and 2), the velocity of
the groundwater can be calculated with the equation:
(h1 + z1 ) − (h2 + z 2 )
v=K (4)
L
where v = Darcy velocity of water
h1 = Pressure head at point 1
z1 = Elevation head at point 1
h2 = Pressure head at point 2
z2 = Elevation head at point 2
L = distance of flow between points 1 and 2 as measured along
streamline length
K = hydraulic conductivity of soil or aquifer material
The groundwater flowrate Q, is given by:
Q = Av (5)
where Q = flow rate (m3/day)
A = area normal to flow direction (m 2)
v = Darcy velocity (m/day)
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Validity of Darcy’s Law
1. Darcy’s equation is valid only for laminar flow, and not valid for turbulent flow. With
laminar flow, velocities are relatively small and water molecules travel in smooth
paths more or less parallel to the solid boundaries of the pores.
2. The Darcy’s law is not valid where water flows through extremely fine-grained
materials (e.g. colloidal clays)
3. The Darcy’s law is not valid where the medium is not fully saturated.
5 Groundwater Potential
The potential yield of groundwater at any given location depends to a large extend, on the
types of geologic formation in the area and thus on the physical properties of the formation
(aquifer).
a. Steady Flow Condition
Confined Aquifer
Flow system around a pumped or flowing well in a confined aquifer can be
analyzed with the Dupuit-Forchheimer assumption of horizontal flow. At steady
state, the flow in the aquifer comes from infinitely far away, so that the flow across
and imaginary cylindrical surface in the aquifer at radius r from the pumped well is
the same as the flow Q from the well (Figure 4). Thus,
Q = K 2rD (dh / dr ) (6)
where Q = flow from well (m /day)
3
K = hydraulic conductivity of aquifer (m/day)
r = radial distance from well center (m)
D = Height of aquifer (m)
dh/dr = hydraulic gradient (slope of piezometric head h at
distance r from the pumped well)
(2rD: surface area of cylinder)
Figure 4 Geometry and symbols for pumped well in confined aquifer.
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The piezometric head h is expressed with respect to the bottom of the aquifer
(Figure 4). Rearangging and integrating the two points at different distances from
the well yields:
2 KD (h2 − h1 )
Q= (7) OR
ln (r2 / r1 )
2 T (h2 − h1 )
Q= (8) [Thiem equation]
ln (r2 / r1 )
where T is the transmissivity of the aquifer.
Unconfined Aquifer
For unconfined aquifers, the factor D in Eq. (6) is replaced by the height h of the
water table above the lower boundary of the aquifer (Figure 5) yielding:
Q = 2rhK (dh / dr ) (9)
Separating variables and integrating between r2, h2 and r1,h1 then gives
Q=
K (h 2
2 − h12 ) (10)
ln(r2 / r1 )
Figure 5 Geometry and symbols for pumped well in unconfined aquifer.
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b. Transient Flow
Equations developed for transient well flow normally show how the drawdown s of the
piezometric surface or water table ( s = H-h) is related to time of pumping the well. In
addition to the well and aquifer parameters considered, the equations also contain the
storage coefficient (or specific yield) S of the aquifer and time of pumping.
Confined Aquifers:
The Theis equation, which describes transient (non-equilibrium) groundwater flow
toward a fully penetrating well in the confined aquifer, is the basis for practically all
methods of pumping test analysis. Using the equation, transmissivity T, and
storage coefficient S, can be determined from the drawdown measurements
without having to wait for the stabilization of pumping water levels as in the case
of steady state methods. In addition, only one observation well, or sometimes only
the pumping well itself, is enough to determine aquifer hydrogeologic parameters
as opposed to steady state calculations. The Theis equation gives drawdown s at
any time after beginning of pumping:
(Q)[W (u )]
s= (11)
4T
where Q = pumping rate kept constant during the test
W(u) is called the well function of u
u is a dimensionless parameter given by:
(r 2 S )
u= (12)
4Tt
where t = time since beginning of pumping
whilst, W(u) values for various values of parameter u are usually presented in table
forms (Table 2)
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Simplified Solution
A simplified solution to the Theis equation (Eq 11) was developed by Cooper and
Jacob (1946) which is applicable for small u (u<0.01)
Q 2.25Tt
s= ln 2 (13)
4T r S
The equation enables direct calculation of s in relation to r and t for given values of
Q, T, and S.
Unconfined Aquifers:
Exact solution of transient flow equation for unconfined aquifers is difficult because
T changes with t and r as the water table declines during pumping. However, if s is
small compared to H, the Theis and Cooper and Jacob solutions can be used to
determine hydrological properties of unconfined aquifers.
6 Safe Yield
The safe yield of an aquifer is the rate at which the groundwater can be withdrawn without
causing a long-term decline of the water table or piezometric surface. Thus, the safe yield
is equal to the average replenishment (recharge) rate of the aquifer.
Excessive groundwater pumping occurs so often, however, that the definition of safe yield
has been stretched beyond the true hydrologic meaning of the term.
In areas of limited water resources, safe yield is defined as the economic safe yield,
which is the rate at which groundwater can be withdrawn without danger of the wells
drying up before an adequate tax base for the more expensive water supplies has been
established.
Another interpretation of safe yield could be the legal safe yield, which is the rate at
which a well owner can pump groundwater without getting involved in legal action.
In its broadest sense, therefore, safe yield can be considered as the rate at which
groundwater can be withdrawn without producing undesirable effects.
Examples of undesirable effects:
Subsidence of the land surface
If the water table is permanently lowered, the intergranular pressure at any given depth
would be increased to cause the void ratio of the porous medium (soil) to decrease
sufficiently, and thus resulting in the subsidence of the land surface. This may lead to
some detrimental effects on life and property.
Saltwater intrusion
In coastal aquifers, the interface between heavier saltwater and lighter freshwater may
migrate inland due to excessive pumping, thus affecting the quality of the well water.
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