Interpretation of groundwater hydrographs in the West Thessaly basin, Greece, using principal component analysis

Abstract

The scope of this work is to elucidate the use of principal components analysis (PCA) as a tool to interpret the areal distribution of various types of ground water level fluctuation patterns within the Western Thessaly basin in Greece. In this area, intense water abstraction takes place during the last decades to cover the needs of agricultural activities and has impacted the ground water regime. Interpretation of ground water level measurements with PCA would allow stake holders involved in water management to closely monitor the aquifers piezometry, through the identification of certain target wells within larger groups of monitoring wells. In the present study, the application of the above methodology on existing monitoring data revealed nine representative monitoring wells in a total of 62. These target locations can be measured in the long term, allowing the collection of reliable water level data and thus the sustainable monitoring of the aquifers.