Groundwater Resources In Areas Research Articles

Nitrate sources, timing, and pathways of a permeable volcanic aquifer system with mixed land use in Jeju Island, South Korea

The occurrence of various N-related human activities increases the difficulty in distinguishing the major sources of NO3− contamination in groundwater, especially in areas with mixed land uses. In addition, the estimation of the timing and pathways of NO3− is necessary to better understand the processes of NO3− contamination in the subsurface aquifer system. This study applied environmental tracers, such as stable isotopes and age tracers (δ15N and δ18O of NO3−, δ11B, chlorofluorocarbons, and 3H), to elucidate the sources, timing, and pathways of NO3− contamination in the groundwaters of the Hanrim area, which has suffered from illegal disposal of livestock wastes since the 1980s, and also characterizes them based on mixed N-contaminant sources such as chemical fertilizers and sewage. The combined use of δ15N and δ11B overcame the limitation of using only NO3− isotopes for the identification of overlapping sources of N and successfully identified the major source of N as livestock wastes. The lumped parameter model (LPM) estimated the binary mixing of the young (age: 23–40 years, NO3-N: 2.55–15.10 mg/L) and old (age: >60 years, NO3-N: <3 mg/L) groundwaters, and explained their age mixing behaviors. The young groundwater was highly affected by livestock-derived N loading during 1987–1998, which coincides with the period of improper dumping of livestock wastes. Furthermore, the young groundwater with elevated NO3-N followed the historical NO3-N curves with younger ages (6 and 16 years) than those derived from the LPM, suggesting the possibility of faster inflows of livestock wastes through the permeable volcanic structures. This study demonstrated that a comprehensive understanding of NO3− contamination processes can be achieved using environmental tracer methods, which enables the efficient management of groundwater resources in areas with multiple N sources.

Groundwater Recharge Planning Using Field Survey for Talupula Mandal in Anantapur District, Andhra Pradesh, India

Groundwater is essential to the sustainability of India’s environment, economy, and living conditions because it isn’t just the primary source of domestic supply of water in rural areas, but it is also the major and most productive origin of the water. The increased demand for groundwater as a result of reduced rainfall has put a strain on groundwater resources in areas where groundwater is the primary supply of water. The main aim of this study is to identify and explore the groundwater potential zones in Talupula Mandal of 280.3 km2 in Ananthapur district in Andhra Pradesh, India with semi-arid climatic conditions. Based on the field survey approach, groundwater availability is found out in the villages. Schlumberger Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) survey technique was used to discover the resistivity and thickness of the unmistakable layers. It was carried out in 18 randomly selected sites where groundwater plays an important role in agricultural and domestic use. The thickness and resistivity of first- and second-layer crack sites of the various layers were separated from ground data using IPI2WIN programming. Using software, graphs were plotted and groundwater potential zones were identified for recharging the groundwater. Based on the results, different models of recharge structures for the study area are identified and recommended. Hence the management of groundwater paves the way for sustainable groundwater levels.

Investigation of the Current Situation and Prospects for the Development of Rainwater Harvesting as a Tool to Confront Water Scarcity Worldwide

Nowadays, available water resources face severe pressures due to demographic, economic, social causes, environmental degradation, climate change, and technological changes on a global scale. It is well known that rainwater harvesting, a simple and old method, has the potential to supplement surface and groundwater resources in areas that have inadequate water supply. In recent decades, many countries have supported the updated implementation of such a practice to confront the water demand increase and to reduce the frequency, peak, and volume of urban runoff. These considerations motivate interest in examining the current situation and the prospect of further development of this method worldwide. The present paper aims at the investigation of the current situation of rainwater harvesting (RWH) as an alternative water source to confront water scarcity in various countries around the world. In particular, the paper presents the following: (a) the causes of water shortage; (b) a concise historical overview of the temporal development of the RWH method; (c) the evolution of the concept of RWH; (d) the efforts to renew interest in RWH; and (e) incentives and perspectives for the spreading of the RWH method in various countries worldwide.

Discriminant analysis as a decision-making tool for geochemically fingerprinting sources of groundwater salinity

Concern over contamination of groundwater resources in areas impacted by anthropogenic activities has led to an increasing number of baseline groundwater quality surveys intended to provide context for interpreting water quality data. Flexible screening tools that can parse through these large, regional datasets to identify spatial or temporal changes in water quality are becoming more important to groundwater scientists. One such tool, developed from previous work by the authors, makes use of linear discriminant analysis (LDA) to identify the most probable source of chloride salinity in groundwater samples based on their geochemical fingerprints. Here, we applied the model to a dataset of shallow groundwater with known sources of contamination compiled from two studies of groundwater quality in Illinois: Panno et al. (2005) and Hwang et al. (2015). By predicting the source of salinity in groundwater samples for which the sources of contamination are known, we validated model prediction-accuracy. Results show high classification accuracy for groundwater samples impacted by basin brines (e.g. deep saline groundwater) and road salt (>80%), with diminishing success for those impacted by organic sources of chloride, such as septic effluent and animal waste. Posterior probabilities, a statistic inherent to LDA, provide a proxy for prediction confidence that enables the model to be used for assessment and accountability measures, such as identifying parties responsible for contamination. LDA is complementary to fingerprinting using halogen ratios (e.g. Cl/Br) because it implicitly relies on halogen ratios for classification decisions while providing a clearer, more quantitative classification of contamination sources. Our model is ideal for regional assessment or initial screening of salinity sources in groundwater because it makes use of commonly measured solute concentrations in publicly available water quality databases.

Development of Crop Water Demand Based Water Delivery Schedule for a Canal Command

Crop water demand-based canal water delivery schedule was developed using geospatial tools and CROPWAT model for the Jhajjar distributary of Western Yamuna Canal Command in Haryana, India. The geospatial database of different soil, water and crop parameters in the command area were developed and analyzed using the Geographic Information System (GIS) tool. Further, the geospatial data were used to work out the irrigation schedule of different crops using CROPWAT model. It was observed from the analysis that the gross irrigation water requirement of wheat was 363.4 mm and that of rice was 1386 mm with effective rainfall depths of 55.8 and 461.8 mm during the wheat (rabi) and rice (kharif) growing seasons, respectively. The crop water demand driven protocol developed in this study estimated that about 25.5% of area under the Jhajjar distributary could be supplied with adequate irrigation, considering the operational canal release roster of the distributary. Nontheless, it could be recommended to modify the existing roster as per the crop water demand estimates, or use of ground water resource in area of deficit canal supply to match the crop water demand in the entire canal command.

Stress-dependent hydraulic properties of clayey-silt aquitards in eastern Australia

Clayey-silt aquitards account for 60 % of the ~100-m-thick alluvial sediment sequence in the Gunnedah area of eastern Australia. To better understand the stress-dependent hydraulic properties of these low-permeability units, oedometer test data presented for the first time in this study have been integrated with geotechnical centrifuge permeameter tests. Estimates of vertical pre-consolidation effective stress (\(\sigma_{\text{p}}^{'}\)), vertical in situ effective stress (\(\sigma_{\text{i}}^{'}\)), and over-consolidation ratio (OCR) were used to determine whether centrifugation stresses caused compression of core samples, and the degree to which vertical hydraulic conductivity (Kv) assessments were representative of the core samples tested. Results suggest that minimally disturbed drill core from semi-consolidated sediments (e.g., alluvial, colluvial, and eolian deposits) evaluated in this study should have target centrifugation stress less than \(\sigma_{\text{p}}^{'}, \) where OCR 1 to avoid significant changes in hydraulic properties during plastic straining. The results also imply that the stress-dependent response of aquitards is critical to understand the sensitivity of groundwater resources in areas with multiple stakeholders such as mining, coal seam gas, and agriculture developments. Groundwater in alluvial sediments that is essential for irrigation, water supply, and base flows to rivers must be sufficiently disconnected from groundwater in coal seams that are depressurized for extraction of energy resources.

Delineation of Groundwater Potential Zones in Hard Rock Terrain in Kashipur Block, Purulia District, West Bengal, using Geospatial Techniques

The rapidly increasing need for water has put tremendous pressure on groundwater resources in areas where it is the prime source of water. The objective of this study is to delineate groundwater potential zone in Kashipur Block, Purulia district, West Bengal with dry climate and hard rock terrain. In the present study, groundwater potential zones for the assessment of groundwater availability in Kashipur Block of Purilia District, West Bengal, has been delineated using remote sensing and GIS techniques. Survey of India toposheets and IRS-1C—LISS III satellite imagery. They are used to prepare various thematic layers, e.g., hydrogeomorphology, slope and lineament density. The maps were then transformed to raster data using feature to raster converter tool of software like MicroImages TNT mips pro 2012. The raster maps of these factors are allocated to a fixed score and weight computed from multiinfluencing factor technique. Each weighted layer is statistically computed to get the groundwater potential zones. Weighted Index Overlay modeling technique was used to develop a groundwater potential zone map with three weighted and scored parameters. Although the area is characterized by hard rock, it has groundwater prospective zones due to fracturing, weathering and the presence of valley fills overlying a planation surface. The area has been categorized into four distinct zones- excellent, good, moderate and poor. Excellent groundwater potential zones constitute 1.5% of the total block area, good groundwater potential zones occupy majority of the block, covering approximately 53%, and the moderate potential zones occupy about 45% of the total block, poor potential zones occupy very small portion 0.5%. The results reveal that the modelling assessment method proposed in this study is an effective tool for deciphering groundwater potential zones for proper planning and management of groundwater resources in diverse hydrogeological terrains

Pumping decisions for sustainable development of groundwater resources in areas of grassland degradation: a case study in Lanqi Banner, Inner Mongolia, China

The best planting alternatives for satisfying high water use demands of forage and fodder crops in a region of Inner Mongolia, China, were determined by a multiobjective distributed-parameter groundwater management model. These alternatives took account of different cropping patterns and pumping decisions associated with both temporal and spatial aspects of water allocation. The model was developed for phreatic, homogenous, and isotropic aquifers using the response matrix technique of quadratic programming theory and, in this case, using the alternative direction implicit (ADI) scheme. Model solutions using effective rainfall with a probability of 50%, show that average water table drawdown in the planning period (2006–2017) is 0.22 m and the groundwater fluctuation in each pumping well is very low. In order to evaluate the pumping decisions under an effective rainfall with a probability of 75%, a sensitive analysis was also conducted. Analysis shows that it is useful to apply the results from the proposed model to control the landscape degradation due to overgrazing and overpumping activities.

Evaluation of groundwater resources in wide inundation areas of the Mekong River basin

Severe floods can have disastrous impacts and cause wide ranging destruction in the Mekong River basin. At the same time groundwater resources are significantly influenced and extensively recharged by flood water in inundation areas of the basin. This study determines the variation of groundwater resources caused by flooding over inundated areas located in lower part of the Mekong River basin using numerical modeling and field observations. The inundation calculations have been evaluated using satellite image outputs. Comparing large, medium and small flood events, we conclude that flood control which reduces the area of inundation, results in a reduction of groundwater resources in the area. In 1993, a 19% reduction in inundation areas resulted in a 31% reduction in groundwater storage. In 1998, a 44% reduction in inundation areas led to a 42% reduction in groundwater storage. Thus, while flood control activities are vital to reduce negative flood impacts in the Mekong River basin, they also negatively impact groundwater resources in the area.