APPLICABILITY AND METHODOLOGY OF SUSTAINABLE YIELD

DETERMINATION IN GROUNDWATER SYSTEMS

Frans R P Kalf 1 and Donald R Woolley2

1
Kalf and Associates Pty Ltd
[email protected]
2
Consultant Hydrogeologist
[email protected]

Abstract
There is currently a need for a review of the definition and methodology of determining sustainable yield. The reasons
are: (1) current definitions and concepts are ambiguous and non-physically based so cannot be used for quantitative
application, (2) there is a need to eliminate varying interpretations and misinterpretations and provide a sound basis for
application, (3) the notion that all groundwater systems either are or can be made to be sustainable is invalid, (4) often
there are an excessive number of factors bound up in the definition that are not easily quantifiable, (5) there is often
confusion between production facility optimal yield and basin sustainable yield, (6) in many semi-arid and arid
environments groundwater systems cannot be sensibly developed using a sustained yield policy particularly where
ecological constraints are applied. Derivation of sustainable yield using conservation of mass principles leads to
expressions for basin sustainable, partial (non-sustainable) mining and total (non-sustainable) mining yields that can be
readily determined using numerical modelling methods and selected on the basis of applied constraints. For some cases
there has to be recognition that the groundwater resource is not renewable and its use cannot therefore be sustainable. In
these cases, its destiny should be the best equitable use.

Keywords: groundwater, conjunctive use, sustainable yield, safe yield, sustainable development, mining yield, water
budget, recharge, storage depletion, groundwater management.

Introduction
Groundwater management in many countries has progressed over the latter half of the last century from virtually nil to a
highly regulatory regime today. The change was concurrent with a change in emphasis from resource exploration to
resource management, and an increase in the ratio of groundwater usage to groundwater availability. The volume of
groundwater authorised for withdrawal has risen to the extent that many important aquifers have been deemed to exceed
the “capacity” of the aquifer system to deliver, often described as “over-exploitation” (Custodio 2002). While the actual
abstraction is mostly significantly less than the authorised amount, there are cases where it has been assessed that this
abstraction exceeds the long-term capacity of the aquifer. In Australia, for example, of the 538 Groundwater
Management Units nationwide examined during a national water audit in 2000, 57 are regarded as being pumped at a rate
that exceeds their long-term capacity (Australian Natural Resources Atlas - http://audit.deh.gov.au/ANRA/atlas_home.cfm).
Water resource managers have sought to redeem the situation by reducing the volume allocated, and in some cases the
volume pumped, to a level that they have assessed is “sustainable”.

This action has resulted in a vigorous debate about the way in which the “capacity” of an aquifer to deliver water in a
sustainable way should be defined and determined. The two prominent concepts developed are Safe Yield and much
later Sustainable Yield. These concepts together with a variety of applied constraints constitute what has been called
“sustainable groundwater development” (Hiscock et al. 2002). If the concept of sustainable groundwater development is
to be applied, then it is essential that both safe yield and sustainable yield be understood. Unfortunately this is currently
not the case and there is a variety of interpretations and often also confusion as to their exact meaning.

This paper re-examines the concept of sustainable yield. It seeks to provide a suitable working methodology, rather than
a specific word definition, and explanation for practitioners and water resource managers for use in defining groundwater
systems under development conditions. Another objective is to place the concept on a sound foundation by re-
emphasizing fundamental groundwater flow principles. Most of the concepts outlined in this paper are not new. The
intention here is to re-examine them from a new perspective as a way of reminding water resource managers and others
that fundamental principles should not be overlooked as they seek to show that use of natural resources is sustainable.
New generations of practitioners in groundwater and related fields need a reminder of these principles, especially if they
do not have a solid background in hydrogeology.

This paper begins by first referring the long historical development of these yield definitions to place their meaning into
context, provide some examples of concepts used in a number of countries, and to outline some of the ambiguities of
sustainable yield definitions in Australia. This is followed by a derivation of basin sustainable yield based on
conservation of mass principles and applied constraints, and a discussion of the implications of some practical issues.
Some examples of sustainable and non-sustainable yield assessment are followed by a listing of some considerations
relevant to groundwater management and concepts presented, and conclusions.

Yield Concepts and Definitions

The progression of the concept of safe or sustainable yield is given in Table 1 below, which is a summarised listing in
chronological order of the key authors with their concepts, definitions and comments.

Table 1 Author, Yield Concepts, Definition and Comments

Author Concepts and Definition Comments
Lee (1915) Safe Yield: “The limit to the quantity of water which can be Hydrologically based on
withdrawn regularly and permanently without dangerous something less than dangerous
depletion of the storage reserve”. storage depletion. What does
dangerous and regular mean?
Yield available in perpetuity (i.e.
sustainable).
Meinzer (1920) Safe Yield: “ ..the practicable rate of withdrawing water Hydrologically based and a yield
from it (the aquifer) primarily for human use”. available in perpetuity (i.e.
sustainable). “Sensible, but
overdraft not evident until after it
has occurred” (Kazmann 1988).
Meinzer (1923) Safe Yield: “The rate at which water can be withdrawn from Hydrologically based but
an aquifer for human use without depleting the supply to the dependent on the pumping
extent that withdrawal at this rate is no longer economically economics of the production
feasible.” facility.
Theis (1940) Perennial Safe Yield: [for non-artesian aquifers that are small Implies concept may not apply to
and most artesian aquifers] “there is a perennial safe yield large aquifer with low diffusivity
equivalent to the amount of rejected recharge [induced (T/S)1 and isolated abstraction.
recharge] and natural discharge it is feasible to utilize”
Stuart (1945) Safe Yield: “is the maximum rate at which water may be Hydrologically based on the
withdrawn without impairing the quantity and quality of the Meinzer concept with water
supply”. quality constraint added

Conkling (1946) Safe Yield: “ Taken over 1 year should not: (1) Exceed Hydrologically based on natural
average annual recharge; (2) Lower watertable so that the recharge but production facility
permissible cost of pumping is exceeded ;(3) Lower economics included in definition
watertable so as to permit intrusion of undesirable quality” plus water quality constraint.
Williams and Perennial Yield: “ has been regarded as the maximum rate at Return to a hydrologically based
Lohman (1949) which water can be salvaged from the natural discharge, or definition. However, no
added to the [natural] recharge or both…In some reports consideration of storage capacity.
economical pumping lift has been a factor in this definition;
however, the economics of recovery seem to be irrelevant to
the determination of the quantity of water which an aquifer
will yield and so are not considered here”
Thomas Safe Yield: suggests abandoning the term because of its US Geological Survey calls for
(1951,1955) indefiniteness abandonment of Safe Yield
terminology about this time.
Synder (1955) Overdraft/Overdevelopment: 5 types (1) Development Definition of overdraft or
overdraft-lowering of watertable in areas of natural overdevelopment in areas
recharge/discharge; (2)(3) Season or cyclic overdraft: - zero exceeding sustained (sic) yield
net change in water levels over specific time period year to (Domenico 1972). All overdraft
year; Cyclic, water levels over two or more seasons and then yields are unsustainable.
return ;(4) Long-run overdraft: perennial pumping exceeding
replenishment (i.e. mining); (5) Critical overdraft- pumping
leads to irreversible undesirable result.
Kazmann (1956) Safe Yield: - suggests abandoning the term because of its
indefiniteness
Todd (1959) Safe Yield: “ the amount of water which can withdrawn from “Compact, but adds nothing to
(a groundwater basin) annually without producing an clarify the situation in that the
undesirable result” ‘undesirable results’ include
concern for available water,
economics of pumping, quality

1
Diffusivity T/S: Transmissivity divided by storativity
2
 and water rights”. (Domenico
1972)
Domenico (1972) “The question whether groundwater should be managed on a Page 80
sustained or mining-yield basis is not yet fully resolved and is
controlled by local conditions and demands than by policy
decisions in advance of their absolute necessity. This is
understandable in that there is likely to be little public
sympathy for an announced depletion policy, whereas one of
sustained use lends a ring of permanency. Whatever the
merits of sustained and mining yield concepts, they are
definitely ingrained in groundwater management”.
ASCE2 (1961) Four concepts of Safe Yield; (1) Maximum sustained (sic) Designed to remove ambiguity of
yield- maximum perennial abstraction ;(2) Permissive Safe Yield concept. Definition is
sustained yield- maximum perennial abstraction legally and a mix between basin mass
economically for beneficial use without undesirable result;(3) balance (water budget) and
Maximum mining yield – total volume in storage that can be production facility response.
extracted and utilized;(4) Permissive mining yield –
maximum volume in storage that can be extracted for
beneficial purposes without undesired result
Freeze (1971) Demonstrates relationship between basin water balances Illustrated variation of inflows
Freeze and Cherry using 3D variably saturated model. Simulation defines the and outflows and storage
(1979) “Maximum Stable Basin Yield” depletion over time.
ASCE (1972) Two types (1) Maximum Mining yield –abstraction exceeds (1) Exceeds natural plus induced
annual replenishment, (2) Perennial Yield - - rate at which recharge -unique value (2) based
water can be salvaged from the natural discharge, or added on changing values depending on
to the [natural] recharge or both groundwater levels in basin
Bouwer (1978) Safe Yield: Three types. (1) [Normal] Safe Yield – is equal to Mixes hydrological based
the average replenishment rate of the aquifer.-limited by recharge, production facility
intrusion near coast;(2) Economic Safe Yield – rate at which maximum available drawdown
groundwater can be withdrawn without danger of wells and non-hydrological legal issues
drying up before adequate tax base for more expensive water
is established (i.e. mining), (3) Legal safe yield – “rate at
which a well owner can pump groundwater without getting
involved in legal action.
Bredehoeft et al Sustainable groundwater development is determined by Focus is on production facility
(1982,1997,2002) capture of natural discharge. Basing groundwater transient phase leading up to
development sustainability on natural recharge (i.e. safe equilibrium. Implies
yield) is a myth and irrelevant. sustainability means groundwater
system must reach equilibrium.
Numerical modelling required to
determine response.
Brudtland Report Sustainable development to take into account environmental Not related specifically to
(1987) and social issues and long term protection of resource groundwater but the origin of the
sustainability concept.
Sophocleous Sustainable yield primarily derived from groundwater storage States that numerical models are
(1997,1998,2000) but ultimately from induced recharge (i.e. surface water best to determine and distinguish
depletion). Sustainable yield must allow for sustainability of between natural and induced
environment and therefore should be less than Safe Yield. recharge. Indicates “irrelevance”
of natural recharge.
Alley and Leake Review differences between Safe Yield and Sustainability No definition or methodology
2004 given but indicate ambiguities
and complexities of concepts

Summary of selected worldwide water budget approaches

Table 2 indicates the approach to groundwater management adopted in several parts of the world. It is based on a
summary provided by Evans et al. (2003), some additional references as indicated, and personal knowledge. This table
although not exhaustive, illustrates that the use of some type of water budget approach is common. However even in
developed countries the approaches may be basic and the concepts used can be ambiguous.

2
American Society of Civil Engineers
3
Table 2 Some examples of current water budget approaches
Country/State Water Budget Approach Comments
Britain Total abstraction, plus the required Indirect limit applied to groundwater abstraction
stream flow, must be less than by community decisions on stream water quality.
recharge. (Abstraction leads to loss of stream flow and
possible degradation of quality.)
India Safe yield policy depending on a Recharge rate for various aquifers is specified as a
given percentage of rainfall. Target percentage of rainfall in Central Government
is to have abstraction less than publications. Calculations and administration by
recharge. States. Inconsistently applied. May improve with
implementation of recent legislation.
China New legislation is based on a safe Aim is to reduce abstraction where it exceeds
yield policy recharge, and to prevent increased abstraction
where it balances recharge.
Kansas, USA* GM Districts in east and north- Widespread falls in groundwater level of
west now have a safe yield policy, significant magnitude. Non-recoverable in large
but introduced too late to prevent areas.
water level declines. Western
GMDs have a planned depletion
policy.
Arizona, USA Over-use and falling water levels Not clear that targets will be met.
addressed by legislation that
mandates safe yield (balancing
abstraction with recharge).
California, USA Courts have determined “equitable May not lead to sustainable use. San Gabriel has
distribution” over large areas. defined “natural safe yield” (quantity that can be
extracted from long term average annual supply)
and “operating safe yield” (quantity determined
by agency for use in a particular fiscal year).
Rhode Island, USA Safe yield policy Uses the Todd definition (see Table 1)
Indonesia Implied target of reducing Sub-optimal location of abstraction facilities has
abstraction to less than recharge. led to operational problems.
Arabian Peninsula No specific yield policy. Range of groundwater withdrawal as percentage
(Algeria, Oman, UAE, Abstraction is without volume of renewal 110% to 1456%
Syria, Jordan, Bahrain, limitation for individuals Young (2002)
Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi
Arabia)
Mexico No specific yield policy. Efforts to Sandoval (2004)
(Guanajuato State) set up groundwater management
program.
Western Turkey Safe Yield policy since 1960’s. Sakiyan and Yazicigil (2004)
Now exploring groundwater
development using various yield
policies.
Australia Sustainable yield policy, based on Use of time frame in definition of sustainable
keeping abstraction less than yield allows for some groundwater mining to be
natural recharge, with specific referred to as sustainable.
allowance for groundwater
dependent ecosystems (including
rivers)
*In the USA Safe Yield concept is enshrined in legislation and law in most States (Evans et al. 2002).

An issue arising from the definitions in Tables 1 and 2 is that there is an ambiguity in the use of the word “recharge”. In
some definitions of Safe Yield it is specifically stated that recharge means “natural recharge”, and is equal to natural
discharge. Definitions of “sustainable yield” however, may imply that “recharge” includes induced recharged resultant
upon changed conditions caused by the groundwater pumping. Induced recharge, commonly stream depletion, is the most
important of the possibilities. It is noted that this is specifically excluded from the definition of sustainable use in Britain.
Successful water management clearly depends on joint management of surface water and groundwater resources.

It is worthwhile to examine the Australian situation in a little more detail to illustrate the current ambiguities. In doing so
readers may find some common threads and ideas that may apply to their own situation.

The ARMCANZ (1997) paper notes “there is no single understanding or definition of sustainable yield across
Australia”. Government and, in general, community perceptions of appropriate usage of groundwater currently appear to
4
be along the lines that groundwater dependent ecosystems should not be impacted by groundwater pumpage, and that
current usage should not be at a rate that would jeopardise its availability for future generations. Consequently, a large
part of the debate is about the meaning to be assigned to the term “sustainability” and how to conceptualise sustainable
use of groundwater.

An interstate working group has been attempting to derive a definition for sustainable yield that would be acceptable to
all States and thus provide a degree of consistency in assessment of sustainable groundwater use across the country. A
definition that has been proposed is “The groundwater abstraction regime, measured over a specified time frame, that
allows acceptable levels of stress and protects the higher value uses that have a dependency on the water” (Evans and
Cook 2002). This definition has not yet been universally adopted, and it has been suggested that it may be so flexible as
to be of little use. For example, reference to sustainable yield for a specified time frame implies that a short time frame is
acceptable, in which case the term sustainable loses its meaning (sustain – enable to last out, keep from failing: Concise
Oxford Dictionary). The term is being used as an aid to the understanding of groundwater systems by non-
hydrogeologists preparing water-use plans, and its definition must therefore be clear and unambiguous. A groundwater
withdrawal regime that is sustainable for 30 years, for instance, may lead to failure in year 31. That does not mean that
the particular abstraction regime should not be adopted, but the possibility that this might occur must be accepted (or at
least realised) by all users of groundwater.

A second area of ambiguity of the above definition of sustainable yield is the reference to “higher value uses”. A higher
value use may in fact be withdrawal for irrigation or other consumptive use. Applications of the initially proposed
definition would not, then, ensure the protection of groundwater dependent ecosystems or the availability of the resource
for future generations, despite the implications apparent from an initial reading. Both are in fact dependent on the way the
definition is interpreted.

In New South Wales, an East Coast State of Australia, the water authority adopted a modified version of the definition
namely: “The groundwater extraction regime measured over a specified planning time frame that allows acceptable
levels of stress and protects dependent economic, social and environmental values”. Whilst this is an improvement, the
definition meaning is still open to various interpretations. What levels of stress are acceptable?

The Australian National Groundwater Committee finally adopted a slightly modified version namely: “The groundwater
extraction regime measured over a specified planning time frame that allows acceptable levels of stress and protects
dependent economic, social and environmental values”. The definition was released subject to the proviso that it should
be read in conjunction with a series of qualifications that occupies two pages. The qualifications recognised that the total
extraction volume is not necessarily the most important part of a groundwater management regime, that some level of
stress on the aquifer will occur, that there may be some storage depletion, and highlighted the need for trade-offs between
these aspects. Whilst this definition is an improvement, the meaning is still open to various interpretations. The
definition itself is still subject of decisions on what levels of stress are acceptable. In New South Wales, for example,
where the definition has been adopted with the provisos, a default allowance of 30% of the long-term average annual net
recharge (i.e. including induced recharge) is provided for groundwater dependent ecosystems (DIPNR 2002).

Despite these inadequate definitions many water authorities in Australia are using numerical models or water balance
methods for water resource assessment. Uncertainty remains, however, on how to precisely determine sustainable yield,
and to link it to the concept of sustainable development using these methods. This also appears to be the case in other
parts of the world.

Need for a Review of the Sustainable Yield Concept

An assessment of the amount of water that a community should draw from an aquifer or basin depends on many factors,
and they are not always of equal weight. For example one problem that arises in using the sustainable yield concept is in
a groundwater system with virtually no recharge from any source either under natural conditions or following
development. Under these conditions use of the term sustainable is questionable given that use of groundwater in these
circumstances would be essentially a mining venture. Using an analogy, what for example would be the sustainable yield
or development of mineral resources such as coal or iron deposits? Clearly the term is meaningless in this context. These
resources have a finite lifetime, dependent on the rate of abstraction.

It is also unfortunate that sustainable yield is often seen to be limited to the rate of natural recharge to aquifer systems
(sometimes called “safe yield”). Using such a definition restricts much of the beneficial use of the aquifer system as a
conveyor and storage medium for the total water resource. Induced stream flow into an aquifer that might otherwise be
lost by surface evaporation is an example of such a benefit.

A requirement for ecologically sustainable yields provides a further constraint on consumptive groundwater use and also
presents a formidable challenge to groundwater managers on how to define this yield.

5
There is clearly a need for a return to a more basic and practical definition and understanding of the concept of
sustainable yield, so that groundwater managers and users are aware of the implications of withdrawal decisions that they
are making, and are not misled about the long-term impacts of groundwater pumping regimes.

Sustainable Yield Concepts and Methodology

It is clear from the previous discussion that any methodology to determine sustainable yield and thus sustainable
development should try to accommodate the following:

(1) Definition or methodology to be based on sound hydrological and groundwater flow principles (i.e law of
conservation of mass) so as to remove ambiguity of meaning and allow determination of quantitative output.

(2) Sustainable yield must enable the groundwater system to reach a new state of equilibrium in time.

(3) Allow numerical models (and modellers) to provide the quantitative output such as basin mass balance (water
budget) in assessing sustainability and also, if required, production facility “performance” or well-field optimal
yield and drawdown.

(4) Allow a particular sustainable yield (or non-sustainable yield) derived from such models to be selected based on
other criteria (i.e. water authority ground and surface water usage limits, community needs, legal factors,
economic issues, ecological requirements, water quality, effects of subsidence)

To achieve these goals it is important first to differentiate and separate the sustainability of a basin aquifer system and the
“performance” of the production facility abstracting groundwater. The definition of sustainability herein refers (and in
our opinion should refer) to the former and not the latter. To this end the sustainable yield can be derived from
conservation of mass principles in a groundwater basin or sub-basin as follows:

Figure 1 Flow mass balance

Inflow – Outflow = Change in Storage

I – O = ∆S/t (1)

where I, O are here defined as the total inflow and outflow rates (L3T-1) from various sources or sinks and ∆S is the
storage accretion or depletion volume (L3) and t is time (T). If the outflow is greater than inflow then some storage is
depleted and groundwater level falls, whilst if the inflow is greater than outflow then there is storage accretion and
groundwater level rises. If inflow equals outflow then the water levels remain static because there is no gain or loss in
storage. Inflows would normally include for example rainfall recharge, runoff and stream/lake leakage, whilst outflows
would include springs, evapotranspiration, base flow, drains and pumping abstraction3. Artificial recharge is also a
possible inflow component.

Basin sustainable yield

The following example illustrates the concept of basin sustainable yield. It should be noted that this example is not to
imply that this is a universal mode of behaviour since it assumes capture and interception occur at about the same time. It
is used to illustrate the general principles without introducing additional complexity and the need to cover all possibilities
that would include where either capture or interception is dominant and initiated at different times.

Under long-term natural conditions, with no development, there will be an average inflow In and outflow On. That is, an
average water balance or equilibrium in the basin is achieved. Under development, with increased artificial abstraction

3
In administratively defined but geologically unbounded groundwater areas or zones the flows would also include lateral inflow and
outflow through the up and down gradients of the aquifer system.
6
(i.e. pumping), outflow can decrease because of “capture” or more perhaps more appropriately interception4 (for
example, decreased evapotranspiration, reduced groundwater flowing into springs or streams due to water table
lowering)5. Also at a given time, inflow can increase as additional water is induced into the aquifer system because of
abstraction drawdown applied to the groundwater system (i.e. leakage from streams/lakes, recharge in former discharge
areas). Note that the induced inflow may occur before interception of outflow or vice-versa depending on the position of
abstraction area relative to the inflow sources and outflow sinks or they may occur simultaneously. Either or both of
these processes will continue for a given time period until for a given abstraction rate the new total outflow (which now
includes pumping) is balanced by the new total inflow rate. The time taken to attain equilibrium will depend on the
magnitude of the abstraction rate, aquifer characteristics, and distances to recharge boundaries.

To examine how abstraction will affect the various natural inflow and outflow components of the groundwater basin,
assume a system in equilibrium at time zero where the natural inflow is balanced by the natural outflow.

In = O n (2)

If a constant abstraction rate (say pumping)6 Ps is introduced to this groundwater system (Figure 2a) then there will be
some aquifer storage depletion as the cone(s) of drawdown depression expand in the aquifer. Assuming that both induced
inflow and interception of outflow occur simultaneously then after some time this abstraction will cause both induced
inflow and interception of some of the natural outflow.

A typical curve for the inflow rate in this case is shown in Figure 2b that starts at the natural inflow rate In and increases
until a new equilibrium is established at a new (sustainable) inflow rate Is at time ts. Similarly in this case during the
same time, pumping abstraction would progressively intercept some of the natural outflow On , which will decrease
progressively to a value Ors which is the (sustainable) residual outflow (Figure 2c) at time ts. The total outflow rate from
the basin at equilibrium time ts is therefore:

Os = Ps + Ors (3)

comprising pumping abstraction and the sum of the remaining (residual) components of natural outflow. At this point the
new inflow Is is balanced by the new outflow Os.

The corresponding storage depletion rate and curve during the same time period is shown in Figure2d. This figure shows
that the rate of storage depletion decreases in time from an initial value of Ps until it reaches zero at time ts after which
there is no further storage depletion. The storage depleted Ss is the volume depicted by the area under the curve in Figure
2d. Ss is defined in this paper as the sustenance storage to achieve sustainable equilibrium of inflow and total outflow.

4
It is worthwhile making a distinction between capture and interception. Abstraction intercepts outflow from discharge components
(evapotranspiration, springs, potential base flow) since this flow originates from natural aquifer recharge whereas abstraction captures
natural recharge and stream runoff and baseflow/lake and wetland surface water since these components originate (except
baseflow)outside of the groundwater system. The word interception makes a distinction that this refers to taking groundwater flow
that originated as natural recharge. (intercept: to take or seize on the way from one place to another, cut off from the intended
destination- Macquarie Dictionary)
5
Note that abstraction interception of natural outflow means that an equivalent volume of natural inflow (recharge) is eventually
captured.
6
Where there is a partial return through percolation of pumping for irrigation Ps would represent the net abstraction.
7
 Figures 2abcd - Water balance components

There will be a specific time at which, for a given abstraction, if it is feasible under prevailing production facility
constraints, when the inflow may reach a basin wide maximum with zero residual outflow. This flow can be defined as
the basin maximum sustainable yield7 at a time td where
Id = Pd (4)
Here the new inflow rate Id is the basin maximum sustainable inflow rate (with zero residual outflow) and Pd is the
“basin maximum sustainable yield”. Such a condition, from equation 1, will result in static water levels with neither
storage accretion nor depletion after time td. It is important to note that the basin cannot sustain indefinitely any
abstraction rate higher than the basin maximum without drawing on storage over and above that used to achieve this
maximum. It is unlikely of course that the basin maximum sustained yield would be desirable since it could mean
complete loss of both residual outflow and stream flow depending on the disconnected8 seepage rates from the stream
channels.

The equilibrium terms and relationships in the foregoing paragraphs are summarised in the following table:

Table 3: Definition of inflow and outflow components

TOTAL INFLOW RATE9 TOTAL OUTFLOW RATE

CONDITIONS Inflow Rate Outflow Rate Abstraction Rate
Natural conditions In = On zero
Basin sustainable yield at Is = Ors + Ps
time ts
Basin maximum Id = zero Pd
sustainable yield at time td

A set of separate storages in the basin as shown in Figure 3 can now be defined.

7
This is similar to the Maximum Stable Basin Yield (Freeze 1971,1979).
8
Seepage rates that are controlled entirely by stream stage and streambed permeability with watertables (potentiometric surfaces)
below the streambed bottom.
9
Total inflow may also include artificial recharge under development conditions.
8
 Figure 3 Sustainable inflow/outflow and storages

Here Sd is the development or maximum sustenance storage depletion required to establish the maximum sustainable
yield Pd; Sm is the available mining or mineable storage and Sr is the unrecoverable storage. The storage volumes shown
in Figure 3 are diagrammatic and in reality would be the spatially integrated volumes over the aquifer system.

Thus
Sd = Maximum sustenance storage = storage depletion required to establish Id
Sm = Mineable or mining storage = recoverable storage remaining after Sd is used
Sr = Unrecoverable storage = storage that cannot be accessed
Total storage under natural conditions at zero time S = Sd + Sm + Sr

It follows of course that in a basin there can be any number of sustainable yields less than the maximum because such
yields would be conservative. That is, they would require less inflow capture and outflow interception than the
groundwater system can potentially provide. For these sustainable yields the sustenance storage Ss (Figure 3) will vary
but is always less than Sd depending on the particular abstraction rate Ps. The sustenance storage Ss is of course equal to
Sd when Ps equals Pd.

Ppm
7.E+03

Figure 4
Storage Depletion
Pd 6.E+03

Rates

5.E+03

Ps3
4.E+03

Ps2
3.E+03

tpm
2.E+03

Ps1
1.E+03

0
ts1 ts2 ts3
0.E+00

td
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000

Figure 4 Sustainable and partial mining yield storage depletion rates . Vertical axis: Storage depletion rate (L3/T).
Horizontal axis: Time (T)

Figure 4 (based on Figure 2d) shows a number of storage depletion rate curves less than the maximum (at an abstraction
rate Pd ) all of which reach zero and consequently indicate that the total outflow is balanced by inflow and the abstraction

9
is therefore sustainable. Pd represents the basin maximum sustainable yield, Ps1, Ps2 and Ps3 are examples of basin
sustainable yields and Ppm represents a basin partial mining yield10.

Any yield less than the basin maximum for the same time period would lead the system to equilibrium or steady state
conditions at some time ts less than td depending on the outflow rate and therefore abstraction rate (Figure 4).

The reason of course why there are any number of sustainable storage depletion rates in the case given in Figure 4 is that
increasing abstraction rates can often intercept increasing rates of natural outflow as well as inducing increasing rates of
inflow from surface bodies of water such as streams and lakes and sometimes rejected recharge11.

Definition of sustainable yield volume up to equilibrium

For an abstraction rate Ps it can be shown that the sustainable yield volume prior to equilibrium is given by:

ts ts

Ps ts = ( ∫
0
I dt - ∫
0
Or dt + Ss ) (5)

The inflow and outflow integral terms are required since they include the sum of all inflows and outflows that vary over
time (increase and decrease respectively) up to equilibrium time ts. They represent the corresponding areas under the
curves shown in Figures 2b and 2c. As noted previously, the sustenance storage Ss used during this time to achieve
equilibrium, is represented by the area under the curve shown in Figure 2d. The sustenance storage should not be
considered as a mining storage since this storage can be replenished (provided there is no significant subsidence) if
abstraction ceases.

Equation (5) above indicates that the abstraction volume up to ts is equal to the total inflow volume (which includes the
natural inflow component), minus the residual outflow volume plus the sustenance storage depletion volume. Beyond
equilibrium the sustainable yield is simply the sustainable inflow rate minus the residual outflow rate. That is, it follows
from equation (3) for any time period greater than ts the sustainable yield is given as:
Ps = Is –Ors (6)

where Ors is the equilibrium residual outflow rate.

Unfortunately the equations given above cannot be solved directly or easily, and require in most cases, a calibrated
numerical model for solution estimation. The equations are a direct expression of the water budget components available
from such models. Given that the curves such as displayed in Figure 2 and 4 are provided as output by numerical model
mass balances, using such models provides a direct means of deciding, based on other criteria, which of the possible
sustainable yield inflow and outflow curves are permitted for the basins sustainable development; that is, which of the
possible curves represents the Permitted Sustainable Yield.

Some corollaries that follow from the above are that:

1. Any withdrawal rate greater than the natural inflow In and less than or equal to the maximum sustainable inflow
Id will use part of the maximum sustenance storage Sd (that is Ss ), until a new equilibrium is established. There
may be time lags in the drawdown reaching either certain recharge or discharge zones or both during
development of equilibrium, but this will not violate the equations given above. Expansion of drawdown cones
is simply a reflection of use of the sustenance storage Ss over time. The time ts at which this equilibrium will be
reached is a function of the diffusivity of the aquifer system (T/S), and for example the distance to the nearest
recharge boundary and the “strength” of the boundary. For a river the “strength” would depend on the stream
stage height and the conductance of the streambed and banks. The time to equilibrium could be relatively short
or many hundreds of years or longer with the constraints being, for example, available drawdown within the
abstraction zone or area. Obviously in a very large basin it will depend on the number and distribution of
abstraction points. It is quite possible, because of drawdown and water quality constraints, that a basin
maximum sustained yield may not be realised. Should it do so however, then further expansion of the
drawdown cones would be a reflection of the use of the mineable storage Sm.

2. The abstraction rate can be higher than the maximum sustainable abstraction rate Pd, but only because this
higher rate is drawing from the sustenance storage Sd. Ultimately the higher yield would need to be reduced to
the maximum abstraction sustainable yield in order to establish equilibrium. If the withdrawal rate is not
decreased, it can only be maintained by drawing on the mining storage. For example, Figure 4 shows a storage

10
Note that Ppm, Pd, Ps3, Ps2, Ps1 are starting values only on the vertical axis with each curve representing the storage depletion rate that
ultimately reaches zero at equilibrium but a constant value for the particular partial mining (non-equilibrium) conditions. For each
sustainable rate the area under each curve is the sustenance storage required to reach equilibrium.
11
Rejected recharge is that recharge under pre-development conditions with a high, near surface watertable, that is lost by runoff. This
rejected recharge can potentially join the groundwater system as the watertable drops during abstraction.
10
 depletion rate that starts at an abstraction rate Ppm and that for a time will be providing water at a rate that is
much higher than the maximum sustainable rate; however, when the sustenance storage is used up mining
storage will need to be utilized. This occurs at a time tpm when the depletion rate becomes constant at a rate
greater than zero. Any constant storage depletion rate greater than zero means that the inflow and intercepted
outflow is insufficient to sustain the abstraction rate. Hence Ppm is not sustainable.

3. There is no timeframe or time period required to define the basin sustainable yield. Thus use of a time period
would only be a convenience for planning purposes and is not fundamental to the principles outlined.

4. An apparent paradox is that it is quite possible for a well-field in one part of the basin to go “dry” yet for the
basin as a whole to have a number of sustainable yields. This simply demonstrates that the well-field
development is not optimal and that the sustainable development of the groundwater resource must include
equitable distribution of abstraction. Individuals or groups cannot selfishly appropriate the groundwater
resource. Porous media, unlike dam storage, will not allow it.

Mining (non sustainable) Yield

If In (the natural inflow rate) is zero or negligible, and therefore On is also negligible (assuming a pre-development
equilibrium has been reached), for example in a very arid environment where the resource is essentially a fossil remnant,
then the system has no basin sustainable yield but only a mineable or mining yield Pm with a maximum time for
exhaustion given by:

tm = (Sd +Sm)/ Pm (7)

where Sd is the maximum sustenance storage (which in this case is for all practical purposes zero), Sm the mineable
storage and Pm is the abstraction rate.

Thus in this case there is no sustainable yield but only a mining yield limited essentially by the available, accessible
storage. Setting a timeframe for such a yield in the vain hope that it remains “sustainable” or might become sustainable
would be invalid.

From a management point of view a mining yield is defined where inflow (natural or induced or both) to the basin and
natural outflow is negligible.

Partial Mining (non sustainable) Yield

Many systems will lie between the two cases described above. Where the abstraction is greater than the difference
between the maximum inflow and residual outflow (i.e. as would be implied by equation (6) then an additional mining
yield Om is required to maintain the abstraction rate. Thus partial mining abstraction rate to be Ppm can be defined at
some time tpm (Figure 4) when the depletion rate becomes constant as:

Ppm = Id + Om (8)

Such a yield cannot be “sustained” indefinitely but only until mining storage Sm is consumed.

Water Level Response

Water levels alone are ambiguous and cannot be relied upon to determine whether a system yield is sustainable or not.
This may be readily seen from three curves shown in Figure 5 from actual model simulations of a small basin with and
without river leakage (upper curves and lower curve respectively) over 100 years. The water level logarithmic time plot
up to time of the first log cycle does not indicate that any of the yields are sustainable over this time period. Although the
lower curve has a greater absolute drawdown the rate of drawdown is greater for the two upper curves (generated for two
different river bed permeability values) than they are for the lower curve generated for a case with no river leakage.
Based on the data up to the end of the first log cycle it might well be concluded that the yields that led to the drawdown
rates for the upper curves are unsustainable and that there has been over allocation. The curves after this time reveal
however that both upper curves are sustainable in the longer term with one yield reaching equilibrium more quickly than
the second. The lower curve clearly is representative of un-sustainable conditions and is a partial mining yield situation.

11
 9 0 .0 0

8 0 .0 0

7 0 .0 0

Water Level
6 0 .0 0

5 0 .0 0

4 0 .0 0

3 0 .0 0

1 1 0 0 0

Time

Figure 5 Model Simulated Drawdown

The implications of this analysis for water resource managers are particularly important where allocation of both
groundwater and surface water are being made to users. Serious double counting may result if groundwater allocations
are made separately to surface water allocations on the basis of the early part of the upper curves in Figure 5. The long-
term sustainability of the groundwater withdrawal will be supported by a corresponding lower river flow, which might
not be sufficient to provide for surface water allocations determined on the basis of the original river flow. Again there is
no simple answer on how to resolve this judgement dilemma. However at present a numerical modelling approach
combined with experienced assessment would appear to be the best method of trying to resolve this issue. Models will of
course be no more accurate than the data on which they are based and the assumptions made but they can provide insight
into the possible range of long-term effects of conditions identified in the field. Where data and interpretation of
conditions are uncertain, probabilistic approaches could be of great value in guiding management plans.

Water Quality
Water quality will affect the above relationships to the extent that impacts of groundwater withdrawal from an aquifer
can include degradation of water quality, which in turn would reduce the abstraction rate. Thus abstraction could be
restricted either over time or spatially, depending on water quality issues. For example returned irrigation water or
downward leakage from saline aquifers could lead to poor water quality over a period of time. Salt-water intrusion may
also limit abstraction. Prediction of these effects could also be achieved using numerical models where necessary.

Ecological Constraints
Ecological requirements will also place restrictions on abstraction. This concept can be accommodated by defining a
residual outflow Ore greater than Ors, and an inflow Ie less than Is so that the excess or surplus outflow and additional
surface flow are available for environmental purposes. For example a larger residual outflow means that more
groundwater would be available for evapotranspiration, which would be equivalent to maintaining higher watertables
beneath areas of phreatophytes. At equilibrium the ecological sustained yield would be given by:

Pe = Ie - Ore (9)

Where Pe is the ecological sustainable yield and Ie is the ecological sustainable inflow.

Storage depletion rate would be represented by a curve shown in Figure 4 that is lower than the corresponding non-
ecological sustainable yield depletion curve.

It is clear that the community and groundwater managers need to understand that such a constraint may often place high
and sometimes unreasonable demands on (or prevention of) the use of groundwater resources. In drier parts of the world
the ecological sustainable yield and even the non-ecological sustainable yield concept will place it in direct conflict with
any significant groundwater use at all.

Practicalities of Yield Assessment

The above theoretical framework for defining sustainable yield does not consider a number of practical issues and
limitations that need to be discussed. These include the application and implications of the principles outlined in
moderately large to very large basins and in designated groundwater zones or areas and the variability of climatic events.

Groundwater entity definition

This paper refers consistently to “basin” as the groundwater entity. This was necessary to simplify the concepts
discussed. However, in reality the groundwater entity might be an area that is partially bounded by geological
boundaries, or it could be a designated groundwater area or zone defined by property boundaries or topographic limits
that leave the area geologically unbounded. This means there are no physical barriers of low permeability material that
laterally constrain inflow, outflow and drawdown propagation.

12
In these circumstances it may be a practical necessity to define a groundwater entity that is smaller and to determine the
sustainability for that zone. This will require, in such cases, an area to be defined in order to limit the drawdown
propagation within the designated area boundaries. In a sense this is the same premise used in numerical modelling
studies in defining a working grid so that the model grid boundaries lie outside the range of influence of the proposed
stresses. Defining a groundwater entity in this way would also be useful for planning purposes in very large basins.
Clearly, defining such a groundwater area must be a requirement if modelling studies are to be used in estimating the
type of yield that is applicable. It is emphasized here that if predicted drawdown is not contained within these boundaries
then the “sustainability” assessment would not be valid. Provided predicted drawdown is contained within the area
boundaries then the flow principles outlined previously would apply in a similar way.

A groundwater entity defined in this way could also be used in an area or zone where good quality groundwater is wholly
or partially surrounded by poorer quality groundwater. In this situation the poorer quality groundwater zone could be
excised from the analysis or modelled area leaving a defined good quality groundwater entity and its boundaries for
application of the principles outlined in this paper. This would lead of course to a more conservative yield determination
than the case without excise.

It is evident that a determination of whatever type of yield using a defined groundwater entity may be quite different
(and often more conservative) than defined over a much larger area or region or one determined for a hydrogeologically
enclosed basin. However provided the assumptions are stated, there should be no ambiguity.

Variability of rainfall and stream recharge events

The vagaries of the climate in drier parts of the world are well known. Rainfall can vary substantially from year to year
and rainfall residual mass curve trends can vary markedly over decades or more. This affects the availability of
streamflow and other bodies of surface water that would provide natural and induced inflow components to an aquifer
system under development. Hence the assumptions of constant inflow (and constant residual outflow) used in the earlier
discussion will not strictly apply. However, the variability of inflow (and basin outflow) does not violate the mass
conservation principles outlined previously. Also, under normal circumstances, years of lower recharge will be balanced
by years of higher recharge and therefore the outcomes discussed will apply on average. Under a constant abstraction
regime some of the “slack” in recharge reduction, depending on the aquifer system, can be taken up by the sustenance
storage acting as a buffer. An aquifer system that can be demonstrated to be classed as having a sustainable yield under
average conditions should use the storage buffer in this way to “weather through” the recharge reduction until conditions
improve. Sustainable assessment has to be based on average conditions, using the longest possible series of historical
records.

Nevertheless, extended droughts remain an issue, and it is evident that in many cases sustainable yield could become a
partial mining yield unless the abstraction is reduced. Prediction of such climatic events is not feasible at present and
therefore there will be uncertainty about “sustainability” of abstraction under these circumstances. Managers should be
prepared for such eventualities with action plans at hand for implementation. The best approach is the use of a numerical
model, with comprehensive water budget outputs coupled with a probability methodology (e.g. Monte Carlo methods) for
determining how the aquifer system may behave in the long term under variable climatic conditions12.

Examples of sustainable and non-sustainable yield

The Bredehoeft Basin

Bredehoeft et al. (1982) and Bredehoeft (1997, 2002) have suggested that: (1) “The idea that knowledge of the
recharge(by which one generally means the virgin rate of recharge) is important in determining the size of a sustainable
development is a myth and has no basis in fact”; (2) “ capture from natural discharge is usually what determines the size
of a sustainable development;; (3) “Once a new equilibrium is reached, the natural discharge is reduced by an amount
equal to development-capture equals development. This statement has nothing to do with recharge”13.

~80kms

Well-field
245 Ml/day
Stream OUT
recharge
245 Ml/day
~40kms Phreatophytes
IN 245 Ml/day
OUT
Case I Case II

Alluvial Basin
Figure 6 Diagrammatic sketch of the numerical model basin of Bredehoeft et al (1982), Bredehoeft (2002)

12
Such analysis could also consider changes in land usage that affect the hydrological water balance.
13
Sophocleous (1997) and Kendy (2003) have also stated natural recharge is irrelevant.
13
A diagrammatic sketch of the example model basin used by them is shown in Figure 6. The roughly oval shaped alluvial
basin is about 80 km by 40km in size with about 610m of saturated sediment surrounded by low permeability hard rock.
Two streams splay out onto the alluvium and completely lose their flow to the subsurface at one end. The only natural
discharge is by phreatophyte evapotranspiration in a broad area at the other end of the basin. There is no recharge by
precipitation and no permanent streams that cross the basin land surface. Natural stream recharge is equal to
evapotranspiration loss (natural discharge or outflow) under pre-development equilibrium conditions.

A well field with total abstraction equal to stream recharge (100 cubic feet per second ~ 245 Megalitres/day) is simulated
at two locations in two scenarios shown as Case I and Case II in Figure 6. Bredehoeft (2002) shows that over time the
well-field “captures” all of the natural discharge and reaches equilibrium (depending on the transmissivity and well-field
location) after a period of between 400 to 1000 years. He concludes, “it is rate at which the phreatophytes consumption
can be captured that determines how this system reaches sustainability”, and “that capture always entails the dynamics
of the aquifer system”.

Bredehoeft’s conclusions are focused of course on the well-field “performance”, that is the production facility response,
during the transient phase leading up to steady state flow (to sustainability). The focus is understandable because this
transient phase in his particular example of a large basin with a very large storage would span numerous human
generations (400 to 1000 years). However, from a basin mass balance perspective it is quite evident that any further
increase in well-field discharge would render this yield as unsustainable in the very long-term and certainly in a relatively
shorter-term if the development was to increase substantially. For example a ten-fold increase in the number of similar
sized well fields pumping at three times the discharge would practically deplete this hypothetical groundwater system
completely in less than a human lifetime.

Two points that emerge are that (1) a lack of knowledge of the natural recharge may have led stakeholders in this basin to
be unaware that the increased abstraction was unsustainable, and (2) it could have been equally argued that if the well-
field had been situated at the recharge end of the basin then it could be said to have captured all of the natural recharge
and that this determined the sustainability of the development rather than interception of outflow, although obviously
outflow would be influenced.14 .

A determination of natural recharge rate for this basin example would be relevant from a basin mass balance (water
budget) perspective. This is so since the natural recharge rate, which generated the natural discharge prior to
development, determines the maximum sustainable yield of the basin in this example. It also maintains the pumping
discharge, independent of where the production facility is located under equilibrium conditions. Once equilibrium is
reached, withdrawal from the aquifer would have to be equal to or less than the rate of natural recharge if mining of the
resource is to be avoided.

There is agreement with Bredehoeft (2002) to the extent that a determination of natural recharge alone is an
oversimplification for determining sustainability and that the use of numerical models should be applied to this task.
However, natural recharge is of course relevant in this context otherwise it would not be possible to set up the pre-
development steady-state conditions for such models.

To illustrate that the production facility response is not always determined by interception of discharge, that is capture of
natural recharge, consider the same basin in a more humid environment, with a large permanent river meandering across
it. Let the well field be in a location remote from the zone of evapotranspiration and near the river in good hydraulic
connection with the aquifer. In this case the production facility response would be controlled largely by the induced
recharge, provided of course that this river flow is comprised dominantly of runoff15. In this case a determination of
natural recharge (and therefore natural discharge) would not be as important (although not irrelevant) in determining
either the response of the production facility or the sustainability of the basin groundwater system. Sustainability of the
basin groundwater system would be predominately maintained by induced recharge at the expense of reduced stream
runoff. Also acknowledged is that any rejected recharge if it existed could be captured by drawdown influence.

It is concluded that the water budget “myth” is not necessarily a myth, from a basin groundwater sustainability (i.e. mass
balance or water budget) perspective and that natural recharge is not irrelevant. Also, sustainable groundwater
development does not always mean that interception of basin discharge (outflow) is dominant or important. In addition if
basin natural recharge is small then so to must the natural discharge under the requirement of equilibrium prior to
development. Interception of natural discharge must always ultimately be equal to or less than an equal rate of natural
recharge, if the basin was initially in equilibrium.

14
It is true to say however that a well-field would be less desirable at this location, since it would create considerably more drawdown
than for the Case I and Case II before reaching equilibrium.
15
This runoff would be generated from the hills of hard rock surrounding the alluvial aquifer and could also include baseflow from this
area. Groundwater in the hard rock could be considered for the most part to be part of the unrecoverable storage as given in this paper.
14
It is useful to now examine the basin example given by Bredehoeft in the context of the principles outlined in this paper.
Firstly, it is a precise example of Basin Maximum Sustainable Yield summarized in Table 1 with Pd = Id except that Id
only includes the natural recharge inflow (i.e. no induced recharge, hence Id = In) and of course zero residual outflow, i.e.
no evapotranspiration with Ors= 0. As noted previously a determination of natural recharge In would have allowed an
investigator to determine the maximum groundwater sustainable yield of this basin. In terms of the graph given in Figure
2b the inflow in such a case would have remained constant whilst the outflow (Figure 2c) would have decreased to zero
over time until equilibrium was again achieved. Secondly, a storage depletion graph would exhibit the maximum
sustenance storage depletion curve for the abstraction adopted16. Clearly, pumping rates less than that adopted would
have generated a number of different depletion curves dependent on abstraction rate all of which would have been
sustainable. However, pumping rates in excess of the rate adopted would have led to partial mining yields Ppm none of
which would have been sustainable.

For the alternative case considered above where the basin has a high conductance river meandering across the aquifer and
a well-field remote from the natural discharge area, the graphs would be similar to those in Figure 2 except that there
would be a smaller effect on the natural outflow. There would also be a corresponding number of storage depletion
curves for pumping rates less than the pumping rate adopted, and also a series of curves for rates higher than the pumping
adopted in the original example. All of these would have led to sustainability because of runoff water being available
through stream depletion.

Finally, an ecological constraint in the Bredehoeft example (e.g. limitation of drawdown effect on plant growth) would
have required maintenance of residual outflow (evapotranspiration). Groundwater development and use in this basin
would therefore have been severely limited irrespective of the location of the well-field although such growth could have
been maintained for a longer period with the well-field situated at the recharge end of the basin.

A footnote is useful here. Theis (1940) states, (and often incorrectly quoted by authors), “Discharge by wells is thus a
new discharge superimposed upon a previously stable system [i.e. equilibrium - where natural recharge equals natural
discharge] and it must be balanced by an increase in the recharge of the aquifer [induced recharge], or by a decrease in
the old discharge, or by loss of storage in the aquifer, or by a combination of these”. Theis here focuses on the well-
field response more than the aquifer system or basin mass balance but does not state or imply in his article that natural
recharge is irrelevant, nor does he use the word or notion of ‘myth’ as suggested by Bredehoeft (1997). On the contrary,
with none of Theis’s ‘rejected recharge’ (available as induced recharge) Theis implies that well discharge would be
sustained by storage removal, a decrease in natural discharge and therefore by inference, capture of natural recharge. If
this recharge is the same as abstraction and drawdown influences the entire aquifer then Theis describes this as the
‘Perennial Safe Yield’ (Theis 1940 –see Table 1 herein)

Basin sustainability yield constraints

As noted previously, the basin or groundwater entity sustainable yield might be subject to production facility constraints.
For example, assume two such constraints such as pumping economics and subsidence both of which could be expressed
in terms of a maximum or critical drawdown for each production facility. In the numerical model of the basin these
drawdowns (or maximum flow rates) could be applied to a well field(s) or even individual wells beyond which pumping
becomes uneconomic or create undesirable drawdown in the case of potential subsidence.17 The model could then be run
not to an arbitrary time frame or period but for a much longer time to test for equilibrium. In the process some
production facilities may fail while others reach steady state. The results would define the permitted sustainable yield of
the basin for this configuration and indicates the life expectancy of the production facilities that ultimately fail and the
time over which this will occur. Alternatively it may indicate that the system as a whole is not sustainable but is a partial
mining basin yield.

Whether the time to equilibrium be 20 years or 2000 years under a sustainable scenario, it is important to state the time
duration in the model assessment and then if necessary indicate the likely drawdown magnitudes over a selected planning
period horizon based on the model results.

16
In this case the sustenance storage used to achieve equilibrium can be calculated to be up to 3% of the total storage for this example.
17
For example, in the commercially available Modflow-Surfact code (Hydrogeologic 1996a) maximum drawdown can be set in the
production facility or facilities so that these levels are not exceeded during the simulation by automatically reducing respective
pumping rates during simulation.
15
 Mallee regional groundwater system – Murray Basin, South Australia

Figure 7 Mallee region-Murray Basin

Barnett (2002) presents a numerical model example of a large geologically unbounded groundwater area, that is, a
groundwater entity as discussed above, Figure 7. The aquifer system is composed of a 100 m to 140 m thick limestone
aquifer used for irrigation, town water supply and stock and domestic use. The potentiometric surface is some 40 m
below natural surface. The climate is semi-arid and rainfall recharge is less than 1 mm/year. There are no major surface
water streams across the designated area. The 3000 mg/L groundwater is thought to be largely a fossil remnant of an
ancient wetter climate. Storage volume is estimated at 108 ML. Based on numerical model analysis total pre-
development inflow of 6727 ML/yr comprised: 745 ML/yr rainfall recharge; 3850 ML/yr upward leakages from an
underlying aquifer and 2132 ML/yr of lateral aquifer inflow. Pre-development outflow of 6722 ML/yr comprised: 6522
ML/yr lateral aquifer outflow and 200 ML/yr upward leakage to a smaller limited overlying unconfined aquifer.

There are no ecological constraints for this groundwater zone because of the depth of the watertable and potentiometric
surface. Model simulation has indicated that 30 years of production at a rate of 60000 ML/yr will increase the total
inflow rate to 11040 ML/yr comprising: 745 ML/yr rainfall recharge; an increase to a total 7760 ML/yr upward leakage;
downward leakage of 100 ML/yr and increase of lateral inflow to 2435 ML/yr. The total residual outflow of 2930 ML/yr
will be less than the pre-development rate, entirely due to interception of part of the pre-development lateral outflow.

Figure 8 Water Budget for the Mallee region (a) before irrigation (b) after 30 years of ‘permissible annual
volume’ (PAV) irrigation (after Barnett 2002).

In this case the natural pre-development rate of inflow is 6727 ML/year whilst the total induced rate of recharge would be
11040 ML/yr, which is only just over 18% of the proposed abstraction rate. It is quite evident given there are no surface
sources available over the designated area for significant inducement of inflow and that the abstraction is not sustainable.
It is clear that this is a partial mining yield situation within and most probably beyond the 30 years planning period.
The storage volume however is obviously very large and would service such a yield well beyond the planning period.

Barnett (2002) points out that the proposed use is calculated to be about 2% of the total storage. He also states that this
depletion will accrue tangible benefits. Such benefits would include first, sustaining future generations through irrigation
usage who otherwise would probably not prosper without such pumping and secondly ultimate reduced saline water
discharges to the Murray River, which is located some distance well beyond the groundwater area.

The corollary here is that defining a sustainable yield based on capture of natural and induced recharge and intercepted
16
outflow would not be possible for this groundwater entity. An interesting question, however, would be: what
management plan would have been followed if this system had been constrained by ecological issues?

Southern High Plains Aquifer, USA

The second example is the High Plains Region of Texas (HPRT) in the United States because this area is not unlike many
of the arid to semi-arid groundwater systems encountered in other parts of the world that largely contains a fossil remnant
(often called connate in the US) groundwater system of a past wetter climate. It is therefore a useful analogue to study
and to benefit from in formulating abstraction policies for similar systems in other drier parts of the world.

Kazmann (1988) gives a good summary of the HPRT groundwater system. Groundwater occurs in the Ogallala
formation comprising poorly cemented fine sand and silt deposit with some coarse sand and gravel ranging in thickness
from 85 m to 120 m. The aquifer is bounded by the High Plains escarpments.

Prior to development the aquifer had an average depth to water from the surface of about 26 metres. Groundwater
abstraction for irrigation commenced in about 1911 and was small with 300 wells in operation before 1935. In 1935 the
area irrigated was 1.6x104 hectares that increased to 1.6 x 106 hectares in 1960. Total aquifer storage prior to
development was estimated at 2.5 x 108 Ml. About 25% of this storage was withdrawn by 1962 and an up to 40% by
1984.

Rainfall recharge to the system has been estimated in the range 6.3 x 104 to 1.3 x 105 Ml per year. Yearly pumping was
on average 2.5 x 106 Ml. Hence recharge to the aquifer system based on these figures was in the range 2.5% to 5% of the
volume pumped. This is clearly a partial mining, and close to a mining yield situation.

A sustainable yield policy would have limited the abstraction to a maximum rate somewhere in the range 2.5% to 5% of
the final pumping rate and less if all residual outflow had not been intercepted. Such a policy would not have allowed the
area to be economically viable for more than about 70 years.

Kazmann(1988) notes that “ (this) groundwater deposit must be considered exhaustible , like oil or gas, and the final
outcome of the mining operation can be anticipated and proper provisions must be made by each individual who is
affected”.

One lesson that has been learnt in this case is that groundwater needs to be used efficiently and not wasted.

Discussion and considerations

The ideas and concepts discussed in this review, and based on the authors’ experience, have led to enunciation of the
following points that require consideration when developing strategies for sustainable use of groundwater

¾ Confusion about the concept of sustainable yield has arisen because of a perceived need for a terminology that
can be applied universally. It is more important, however, to understand how a particular aquifer system works
so that impacts resulting from its use can be predicted and allowed for in resource planning. Use of the term
where it is not warranted is misleading.

¾ It would be better to view groundwater not as a renewable resource but as a mineral resource that can be
replenished under certain circumstances and geographical locations. This perspective is particularly relevant in
drier parts of the world such as Spain, South America, parts of North America and China, inland Australia, the
Middle East, Northern Africa, parts of Russia, and the Mediterranean area.

¾ The use of the term “over-exploitation” in the context of this paper means storage depletion in excess of the
maximum sustenance storage of the basin or groundwater entity and/or where water quality has deteriorated as a
result of abstraction. Use of the term should be discouraged since it gives the lay impression that this means
unbridled use and that measures could always be introduced or applied to prevent this from happening. Whilst
prevention may be possible where groundwater replenishment is adequate or abstraction reduction is possible, it
has to be recognised there will be situations where groundwater cannot be economically or sensibly developed
under a sustainable yield policy. That is, sustainable development of groundwater resources may simply not be
feasible in many drier parts of the world. In this respect there is agreement with some of the relevant views on
sustainability given by Price (2002). The words ‘non-sustainable use or usage’ could be used as an alternative.

¾ It is our experience that when the principles outlined above are explained to community representatives they
would rather know how long abstraction will last, than be under the impression that the groundwater is
“sustainable”, or can be made to be sustainable under a regime of severe, unreasonable and uneconomic
restrictions to prevent mining of an aquifer system.

17
 ¾ The determination of natural recharge of a groundwater system remains a useful starting point in determining
water budgets of these systems. Whilst this may not be necessarily important in assessing sustainable yields or
development such a determination defines a pre-development inflow and outflow of the basin or entity that
would be the starting conditions for any analysis be it “back-of-the-envelope” water budget or numerical model
simulation. This paper has demonstrated however that in basins with insignificant surface water resources
natural recharge (and therefore natural discharge) is the non-ecological maximum sustainable yield of the basin
with water quality the primary constraint on its delivery.

¾ For numerical model based sustainable yield assessments,use of the flux based streamflow package(i.e. Prudic
1989; HydroGeologic 1996b) rather than the head based river package is suggested for users of the USGS
MODFLOW program or more advanced commercial variants of the computer code. The flux based package
allows a more realistic mass balance of both surface and groundwater systems in sustainable yield
determination. Output18 such as shown in Figure 2 split into its inflow and outflow components should be
encouraged in reporting sustainable yield simulations including cumulative mass balance of the same
components. Such simulations would preferably explore sustainability by testing for equilibrium in the time
domain in addition to well-field drawdown response (subject to constraints) over time, and not just to an
arbitrarily chosen time frame. Such output can form the basis of deciding the permitted sustainable yield and
sustainable development by selecting a given curve or curves based on applied constraints and particular
abstraction scenarios.

¾ Analytical models are considered unsuitable for basin or groundwater entity sustainable yield estimation mainly
because they lack the ability to simulate output mass balance but also because their treatment of inflow and
outflow component interaction cannot be rigorous and their response is based on linear superposition theory.
These models would be better limited to local well interference and stream depletion calculations and ‘first-
pass’ assessments. Sustainable yield calculation based on water level response alone using such models is not
considered suitable.

¾ The use of storage depletion greater than sustenance storage coupled with an arbitrary time frame as a guise for
claiming sustainability is not recommended irrespective of the volume in storage. This approach might be
acceptable for water supplies for mining projects where abstraction is of relatively short and finite duration
(Anderson et al. 2002), provided of course that the consequent long to very long period of recovery can be
tolerated. But for on-going water resource projects particularly where abstraction generally increases over time
it could give stakeholders a false sense of security and be quite misleading in the long term. It would be better
to advise stakeholders of the time for exhaustion of the resource, where applicable, so that adequate
contingencies measures can be put into place if necessary.

In a perfect world, questions about whether sufficient water to sustain civilised communities indefinitely can be
withdrawn from natural systems and what size those communities should reach, would perhaps be asked and answered
before the communities began to withdraw the water. Human civilisation is not like that however, and it is nearly always
the case that the rate of use of a resource outstrips knowledge of what the implications of that use might be. In the case of
water, human civilisation now finds itself in two broad camps. On the one hand, wealthy “western” civilisations are now
approaching a level of knowledge that might provide answers to such questions, but resource use levels in some areas
may be such that those answers may not always be palatable. On the other hand, in poorer or less developed parts of the
world the current level of resource use may be insignificant, and completely sustainable, but those communities do not
have the wealth or knowledge with which to address the questions of sustainability as they endeavour to emulate the
more developed parts of the world. One might think, perhaps, that the concepts discussed in this paper are therefore
irrelevant and that in the long run wealth will succumb to the power of nature and only subsistence communities will
survive. On the contrary, if communities properly understand these issues, sufficient advance notice may be provided to
enable long term strategies to be devised in highly developed areas. Concurrently, knowledge transfer between
developed and less developed communities may lead to better resource management outcomes rather than disasters.

In this paper the authors have sought to re-emphasize and provide an unambiguous methodology of determining
sustainable yield, and for the non-sustainable partial mining and mining yield concepts. This can only be achieved by
basing it on sound physical principles, thereby removing the possibility of varying interpretations and misinterpretations
deriving from other issues. Aspects of groundwater management factors affecting production facility discharge should be
regarded as constraints on the way the physical system is used and not as part of the basic physical concept. The law of
conservation of mass (i.e. the continuity equation) is unequivocal, and leaves no room for misinterpretation. This law
must be the basis of the assessment of sustainable yield with constraints that must be applied as necessary in determining
optimum usage patterns for particular circumstances.

18
Such output is currently not readily available in convenient files for plotting in most MODFLOW packages - developers should
address this deficiency.
18
Acknowledgments The authors thank Clifford Voss, William Alley, Marios Sophocleous and an anonymous reviewer for
their comments and suggestions.

Conclusions

The main advice and key points made in this paper can be summarized as follows:

1. Sustainable yield is best determined in the context of the basin or groundwater entity water balance
2. Production facility yield and sustainable (basin or groundwater entity) yield need to be differentiated in
sustainability assessments
3. Sustainable yield implies that the basin or groundwater entity water balance reaches equilibrium at some time
4. The term “sustainable” should not be used where it is not necessary or warranted
5. An arbitrary time frame should not be used to define the sustainable yield
6. Aspects such as, for example, economic pumping, subsidence, water quality of the production facilities and
ecological requirements can be applied as constraints in determining sustainable basin or groundwater entity
yield
7. Use of storage depletion greater than sustenance storage, as defined herein, coupled with an arbitrary time frame
for claiming sustainability is not recommended
8. Numerical models are the preferred method to determine the basin sustainable yield. Analytical models are
unsuitable for such a determination
9. Water level response over time can be ambiguous in determining sustainability of the groundwater system
10. Use of the term “non-sustainable use or usage” would be preferable to the term “over-exploitation”
11. Estimation of basin or groundwater entity pre-development recharge is a relevant activity in the determination of
the sustainable yield although it may or may not be important, often depending on the availability of surface
water runoff sources to groundwater systems
12. Stream-aquifer interaction using flux based algorithms is the preferred method for sustainable yield
determination using numerical models
13. Variation in climate and land-use changes will produce uncertainty in any determination of basin sustainable
yield and hence probability methods of numerical model solution are suggested
14. Irrespective of the time to equilibrium, under a sustainable yield scenario it is important to state the time
duration to such a condition in the model assessment as well as determining drawdown response over a selected
planning horizon as required.

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