Effects of urbanization on groundwater level in aquifers of Binh Duong Province, Vietnam

Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to assess the impact of urbanization on the groundwater level (GWL) in aquifers of Binh Duong (BD) Province. The research method is to analyze the trend of GWL, the recharge capacity of surface over time and the relationship between them. The data of the GWL used in the study are the average values in the dry and rainy seasons of 35 observation wells from 2011 to 2018, which are in Pleistocene and Pliocene aquifers. The ability to recharge groundwater from the surface in this study was represented by the curve number (CN), a parameter used in hydrology for calculating direct runoff or infiltration from rainfall. The land use data to identify the CN was analyzed from the Landsat images. The results show that besides over-exploitation, the change of surface characteristic due to the urbanization development process is also the cause of the GWL decline. The analysis of seasonal GWL data shows that the increase in impervious surface area is the cause of GWL decline in the Pleistocene aquifer, which is more evident in the rainy season than in the dry season. The statistical results also show that in the rainy season and in shallow aquifers, a higher CN change can be found with the wells that had a remarkable GWL decline compared to the remaining wells.