IDE 202 Groundwater, Wells and Pumps (2+1)

Unit 1
Lecture 1
Occurrence and Movement of Groundwater – Geological
formations

Dr. E.Sujitha
Teaching Assistant(SWCE)
Dept. of SWCE
AEC&RI, Kumulur
Understanding Groundwater Resources
 Groundwater, a vital resource, resides beneath the Earth's surface
within soil pores and rock fractures.
 Replenished by rainfall, it naturally discharges through springs
and seeps, nurturing oases and wetlands.
 Extracted via wells for agriculture, municipal, and industrial uses,
its study falls under groundwater hydrology.
 Depths to groundwater may range from 1 m or less to 1000 m
or more.
 There are also places where groundwater does not exist at
all.
 Groundwater is also called as phreatic water.
Global Water Distribution

13.6 x108 km3 water of which 0.62%

(8.336 x108 km3) as GW
Groundwater Availability in India
India's annual groundwater resource is estimated by Ministry of Water Resource, Govt. of India,

433 399 231

BCM BCM BCM
Total annual replenishable Net annual groundwater Total annual withdrawal of
groundwater resource resource groundwater =
213 BCM irrigation +18 BCM domestic
Vertical Distribution of Groundwater
Unsaturated Zone (Vadose Zone or zone of Aeration)
The zone between the ground surface and the top of
capillary fringe which consists of voids (pores or
interstices) partially filled with water and air.
Divided into
• Soil water zone -
• Intermediate zone -
• Capillary fringezone between bottom of the
-
unsaturated zone and top of the water table. It moves
water upward from the water table but cannot be withdrawn for
supply.
Saturated Zone (zone of saturation)
Pore spaces are completely filled with water. This is the zone from
which groundwater is typically extracted for various uses.
Geologic Formations as Aquifers

Soil - Formed by weathering of rocks

Geologic Formations - Consolidated (hard rocks)

- Semi-consolidated (sandstone) &
- Unconsolidated(sand, silt, clay)

Aquifers - Underground layers

of rock or sediment that hold
groundwater
 Properties of Aquifers

• The hydrogeologic factors which govern the storage and fluid-

transmitting characteristics of an aquifer system are called
‘aquifer properties’ or ‘aquifer parameters’.
• Storage-related aquifer properties (or storage parameters)
are: porosity, effective porosity, specific retention, specific yield,
storage coefficient, and specific storage.
• Fluid-transmission-related aquifer properties (or yield
parameters) are: intrinsic permeability, hydraulic conductivity,
and transmissivity.
Types of aquifers and location of wells
Terminologies • Aquifer: A water bearing geologic formation or stratum capable
Terminologies
of transmitting water through its pores at a rate sufficient for
economic extraction by wells is called ‘aquifer’.
E.g.: Unconsolidated gravels, sands, alluvium

• Aquiclude: A geologic formation, which can absorb water but

can not transmit significant amounts is called an ‘aquiclude’.
E.g.: Clay

• Aquifuge: A geologic formation with no interconnected pores

and hence can neither absorb nor transmit water is called an
‘aquifuge’. E.g: Basalts, Granites, etc.

• Aquitard: A geologic formation of rather impervious nature,

which transmits water at a slow rate compared to an aquifer
(insufficient for pumping from wells) is called an ‘aquitard’.
E.g: is Sandy Clay
Terminologies

Unconfined aquifer:

• An aquifer which is not overlain by any confining

layer but has a confining layer at its bottom is
called unconfined aquifer.

• It is normally exposed to the atmosphere and its

upper portion is partly saturated with water.

• The upper surface of saturation is called water

table which is under atmospheric pressure
therefore this aquifer is also called phreatic
aquifer, water-table aquifer, well aquifer, free
aquifer.
Terminologies
Confined aquifer:

• It is a type of aquifer overlain as well as underlain by

confining layers. The water within the aquifer is
therefore held under pressure. It is sometimes called
pressure aquifer also.

• If the aquifer has high outcrop laterally than the ground

surface there will be positive hydrostatic pressure to
create conditions for a flowing well.

• Water from such well comes to the surface without

pumping. The imaginary level upto which the water will
rise is called piezometric surface. Such an aquifer is
called an artesian aquifer.
Terminologies

Confined aquifer
Flowing artesian well
• If the piezometric surface is above the
ground level at the location of the
well, the well is called ‘flowing
artesian well’ since the water flows
out of the well like a spring.

Non-flowing artesian well

• If the piezometric surface is below
the ground level at the well
location, the well is called a non-
flowing artesian well.
Terminologies

Semi-confined Aquifers (Leaky aquifer)

Semi-confined aquifers have an upper boundary
that is only partially confined, allowing some
interaction with surface water.

Perched water table (Perched aquifer)

Sometimes a small band of impervious strata lying
above the main ground water table (GWT) holds
part of the water percolating from above.
Such small water bodies of local nature can be
exhausted quickly and are deceptive.
The water level in them is called ‘perched water
table’.
Terminologies

Specific yield (Sy ): It is the ratio of the volume of water which the formation will yield by gravity after
being saturated to the volume of the formation. It is expressed in %.

For alluvial aquifers: Sy=10-20% , For uniform sand: Sy= 30%

Specific retention (Sr): It is the ratio of the volume of water a material retains after drainage by gravity
(Vr) to the total volume (V) and is given by

Relationship of Sy and Sr: As the volume of water drained (Vd ) and the volume of water retained (Vr)
constitute the total water volume in a saturated porous material, the sum of the two is equal to
the total porosity (n) of a porous material.
n = S y + Sr
Terminologies

Porosity: The ratio of the volume of voids to the total volume. If n is the porosity, then

Vv is the volume of voids, Vs is the volume of solids, and V is the total volume.
Porosity may also be expressed by

• is the density of mineral particles and is the bulk density

Effective porosity refers to the amount of interconnected pore space available for fluid
flow and is expressed as a ratio of interconnected voids to total volume.
Kinematic porosity Fraction of total porosity which is available for fluid flow.
 Terminologies
Coefficient of Storage/ Storage coefficient (S) or Storativity
• It is defined as the volume of water an aquifer releases from or
it takes into storage per unit surface area of the aquifer per unit
change in head. i.e. a vertical column of aquifer standing on a unit
area as water level, falls by unit depth.
In Unconfined aquifers, the storage coefficient = specific yield. i.e.,
S=0.05-0.30

In Confined aquifer, for a vertical column of unit area extending

through a confined aquifer, the storage coefficient S equals the
volume of water released from the aquifer when the piezometric
surface declines a unit distance. S=0.00005-0.005
Storage coefficients can best be determined from pumping tests
of wells.
The hydraulic head denotes ‘piezometric level’ for confined
aquifers and ‘water table’ for unconfined aquifers.
 Terminologies
Storage coefficient is a dimensionless aquifer parameter.
Mathematically, it is expressed as follows:
S = Ss × b
Where, Ss = specific storage of the aquifer material, b = thickness of the aquifer.

The ‘Specific Storage’ (Ss) of an aquifer is defined as the volume of water released from or taken
into storage per unit volume of an aquifer per unit change in hydraulic head.
The specific storage has the dimension of [L-1].

Where,
ρw = density of water
α = compressibility of the aquifer material (a is equal to 1/Es wherein Es is bulk modulus of elasticity
of aquifer skeleton)
β = compressibility of water (β is equal to 1/Kw, wherein Kw is bulk modulus of elasticity of water);
n = porosity of the aquifer material
γw = unit weight of water.
Terminologies
Specific Capacity: Discharge per unit drawdown, lpm/m

Safe yield: Amount of water that can be economically withdrawn from the well in the foreseeable future
without causing depletion of the aquifer.

Hydraulic conductivity / Co-efficient of permeability: It is defined as the amount of flow per unit cross
sectional area under the influence of unit hydraulic gradient. (L/T)

Permeability, K : Ability of the media to transmit the fluids. Defined as Flow per unit cross-sectional area
of the formation when subjected to a unit hydraulic head per unit length of flow, (L/T)

Transmissibility coefficient / Co-efficient of Transmissibility, T : Transmissivity is the discharge

through unit width of aquifer for the fully saturated depth under a unit hydraulic gradient, lpd/m or
m2/sec. It depends on both the permeability, K( L/T) and thickness of the aquifer, b(L) = (L2/T)

Intrinsic Permeability/ absolute permeability/specific permeability, k : Is a measure of the

material's ability to allow fluid flow, but only based on the material's internal structure (pore size, shape,
and connectivity), L2.
Terminologies
Drawdown: It refers to the lowering of the water table or potentiometric surface due to groundwater
extraction, typically by pumping from a well. It is the difference between the initial static water level and
the water level after pumping for a given period.

Static Water Level (SWL): It refers to the level at which water naturally stands in a well or borehole
when it is not being pumped or influenced by external forces. It represents the equilibrium level of
groundwater under natural, undisturbed conditions.

Specific Capacity: Discharge per unit drawdown, lpm/m

Safe yield: Amount of water that can be economically withdrawn from the well in the foreseeable future
without causing depletion of the aquifer.
Thank You 