1.1 Introduction
Groundwater is in contact with surface water. However, traditionally, groundwater and surface water used to be considered as separate water resources (Winter, 1998). Because of that, management of groundwater and surface water resources poses a risk of allocating the same water twice in the water budget (Geosciences Australia, 2013). Not only two resources are in close contact rather they do interact. So, Winter (1998) considered groundwater and surface water as a single resource.
Surface water commonly is hydraulically connected to ground water, but the interactions are difficult to observe and measure (Winter, 1998). Interaction depends upon understanding the effect of topography, geology and climate of the groundwater flow system (Toth, 1970). Besides that, biotic factors are also responsible for the interaction (Sophocleous, 2002). Because of the complexity, the study of groundwater and surface water interaction has been studied for more than a century. The study was started using analytical method developed by Boussinesq (1877). Still today, study of groundwater-surface water interaction is the most common topic of research studying stream-aquifer interaction (Winter, 1995). In spite of difficulties observing and measuring the interactions directly, different techniques have been developed understanding the interaction. For example, measurement of hydraulic heads, temperature of water in the aquifer etc.
The study of groundwater-surface water interaction is not limited to methods related to physical properties of aquifer but it is rather extended to chemical and numerical methods and some have even taken a statistical approach to quantify interaction. Statistical methods like Principal Component Analysis (...
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...and additional numerical methods are obtained for numerical model which improves the model result in comparison to the one built with non-site-specific parameters (Unthank, 2013). A numerical groundwater model is built, calibrated and verified with field data. Then, simulation of the model is conducted for different scenarios. Finally, sensitivity analysis is performed to identify most influencing field parameter in these systems.
The study benefits Water Utilities from the region gaining information regarding well and aquifer interaction. Hence, they could defend themselves with a scientific information on flow directions and recharge sources to be able to respond to public inquiries and to react to incidents of presumed contamination. The study results will be helpful identifying potential threats to water security as well as to plan future well-field expansion.
Water is the life blood of every living creature on earth. Approximately 70 percent of the earth's surface is covered with water. Through the wonders of nature, water can take on many different forms. It is easy to understand the significance water plays in our lives, but it may be difficult to understand the water that exists below the earth's surface. This water is called groundwater.
But one can’t look at “water” in a monolithic sense, because not all water is usable for drinking or irrigation. Usable water can be defined, in this instance, as a source that is reliable, consistent, and clean enough to drink or use for irrigation. This includes rivers, lakes, wells, but it does not include oceans or contaminated water. In some circumstances, the water that is at first promising can then become contaminated; water standing in irrigation ditches can become a fertile breeding ground for mosquitoes and other carriers of disease. In addition, the over-use or diversion of water can impact its quality, creating water heavy ...
Hundreds of chemicals are used during Marcellus Shale drilling; therefore, the process can cause contamination and pollution. According to Marc Levy and Mary Esch, because the Marcellus Shale drills go so far under the ground, the water there has a higher chance of being polluted. According to the article “Methane Gas and Its Removal from Wells in Pennsylvania” methane is a chemical that can contaminate drinking water because of drilling. Too much methane can be harmful to humans (Swistock and Rizzo). According to the article “Hydrofracking,” water sources also have an increased risk of being polluted when a drill is installed near them. Some of the contaminated wastewater that this process creates stays in ...
Olmstead, Sheila M et al. “Shale Gas Development Impacts on Surface Water Quality in Pennsylvania.” PNAS 110.13 (2013): 4962–4967.
Ever since the process of hydraulic fracturing—or fracking—made its entrance to the oil industry, issues and problems surrounding the process have become a common occurrence. Fracking is the controversial process of horizontal drilling (see fig. 1), where millions of gallons of water mixed with sand and chemicals are pumped deep into an oil well to extract natural gas from the earth’s crust (Ehrenberg 20). This practice has even been banned in some places (see fig. 1). The methane that comes out of the earth and the water used—called fracking fluid—has the potential to cause problems with local ground water supplies. Whether or not fracking is the cause of these problems, concern should be observed during the fracking process to reduce the chances of water contamination among residential areas.
Water that has changed throughout the hydrologic process travels from the irrigation treatment and enters into the aquifers. First...
Natural gas drilling can cause water contamination. In his Academy Award-nominated documentary Gasland, filmmaker Josh Fox conducted interviews with families in Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Wyoming whose drinking wat...
The Ogallala Aquifer is a shallow water table aquifer, an underground lake beneath the surface. It is located beneath the Great Plains in the United States. The Ogallala Aquifer is one of the largest aquifers and it covers a 175,000 miles squared area (Approximately). Its area spreads underneath eight states: South Dakota, Wyoming, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Nebraska, and Colorado. It was given the name because of its type locality near the small town of Ogallala, Nebraska in 1898. The Ogallala Aquifer is very important to United States agriculture. Approximately 25 percent of the irrigated land in America overlies the aquifer. In addition, 30 percent of the ground water used for irrigation comes from this. The Ogallala Aquifer is crucial to some Americans because the aquifer system is responsible for supplying 80 percent of drinking water to the people who live inside the boundaries of High Plains region. This means that almost two million people are dependent on the Ogallala Aquifer for living.
Mexico is high-urbanized country. Almost 78% of its citizens live in cities (Castro and Heller 2009). That is why citizens of urban areas suffer the most from the appreciable water shortage. The situation with water supply in urban areas is critical. As an example, Mexico City, with population about 20 million people, faces quite serious scarcity of water. It obtains water from 3 main basins, all of them are overexploited (UNESCO 2006). The solution of the government to this problem was to pump water from the aquifers. However, these palliative actions of the government have not solved the problem, three aquifers from which city gets water are overused (UNESCO 2006).
Numerous reports have been given on the dangerous affects of hydraulic fracturing. One such affect that has been noticed is that drinking water wells near the fracturing sites have been contaminated. During the hydro-fracking process, injected fluids that help to break and keep open the rock bed where the natural gas is kept, have “been known to travel three thousand feet from the well (Goldman).” This fluid could have the potential to enter and contaminate any water well for homes around hydraulic fracturing sites. This incident is one of the major problems that people want to figure out and know about before they allow a fracturing site by them. It has been the most feared outcome of having a fracking site nearby, and it is highly appropriate. One site in Wyoming had this happen, “…in August, EPA reported that eleven of thirty-nine drinking-water wells near a Wyoming hydraulic fracturing operation were contaminated with chemicals used in the fracturing process (Hobson EPA).” In Pennsylvania, another such case occurred, “There have already been severe pollution cases in Pennsylvania, mo...
Property rights in water have similar challenges. Like the wild animals, the pool water that is adjacent to two property owners can be movable. Similarly, there is also the groundwater that lies beneath the surface. “Groundwater is water located beneath the ground surface in soil pore and fracture of rock formations” (The Economist). The water under the private land belongs to the owner of the surface unless the land is owned under split state. The surface owner has the right to extract and use the water that lies beneath its private lands. The neighbor of this person has similar right of use and benefit from the water under their land. One of these two neighbors drill deep on his or her land and extract water for personal use. The problem here is, as a moving wild animal, water can flow toward underneath of the land who drilled first emptying of the subsoil of the adjacent. Water in the pool on surface or in underground might move with or without outside interference. The movement can be on its own discretion or might be caused by the interference of human action. Water ...
It includes the water found in lakes, reservoirs, and groundwater that is shallow enough to be tapped at an affordable cost. These freshwater sources are the only sources that are frequently replenished by rain and snowfall, and therefore are renewable. At the current rates of consumption, however, this supply of fresh water will not last. Pollution and contamination of freshwater sources exacerbate the problem, further reducing the amount of freshwater available for human consumption. Something must be done if humans want to even survive in the near future: the lack of clean drinking water is already the number one cause of disease in the world today.
Azeem, Abdul. "Causes, Effects and Solution of Water Polution." Academia.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2014.
Aquifers feed our rivers and supply much of our drinking water. Groundwater pollution is much less obvious than surface-water pollution, but is no less of a problem. As the long Mediterranean summer drags on and the promise of rain evaporates as quickly as the few fat drops that have fallen here and there, residents of the capital and its surrounding areas find themselves resorting to ad hoc private water networks as the public pipes run dry. "We had originally dug at 30 meters, but we are now digging at 70 meters," one private water supplier and well owner told The Daily Star(Unknown, 2013,page
Water quality can be described as the measurement of the condition of water relative to the requirements of humans, animals and plant’s need. When we talk about water quality testing, we are highlighting a critical piece of natural observing for civil engineers in order to create a specific structure or decision. At the point when water quality is poor, it influences almost every single form of life in our planet; going from plants to animals and thereon. Hydrology, in the other hand, is the study of water. It is important to state that hydrology is a critical part for civil engineers to determine and predicting decisions that will affect our biological environment.