Groundwater and Hydraulics, 15CV742

Groundwater

Groundwater is water that exists in the pore spaces and fractures in rocks and sediments beneath
the Earth’s surface. It originates as rainfall or snow, and then moves through the soil and rock
into the groundwater system, where it eventually makes its way back to the surface streams,
lakes, or oceans.

Groundwater hydrology

Ground-water hydrology is the subdivision of the science of hydrology that deals with the
occurrence, movement, and quality of water beneath the Earth's surface. It is interdisciplinary in
scope in that it involves the application of the physical, biological, and mathematical sciences.

Distribution of Earth’s Water.

The world’s total water resources are estimated at 1,386,000,000 cubic kilometers. Global water
resources 97% is salty water and only 3% is freshwater. Out of this 3% of freshwater, 68.7% is
fresh water in glaciers and icecaps, 30.1% ground water, 0.3 surface water and 0.9 others. In
surface water 87% lakes and reservoirs, and swamps in streams, 2% in rivers, remaining water
vapor, soil moisture, water within organisms.
Importance of Groundwater

Groundwater, which is in aquifers below the surface of the Earth, is one of the Nation's most
important natural resources. Groundwater is the source of about 37 percent of the water that
county and city water departments supply to households and businesses (public supply). It
provides drinking water for more than 90 percent of the rural population who do not get their
water delivered to them from a county/city water department or private water company.
• Groundwater is the world’s most extracted raw material withdrawal rates currently in the
estimated range of 982 km3/year.
• About 60 percent of groundwater withdrawn worldwide is used for agriculture; the rest is
almost equally divided between the domestic and industrial sectors.
• In many nations, more than half of the groundwater withdrawn is for domestic water supplies
and globally it provides 25 to 40 percent of the world’s drinking water. Globally, about 38
percent of irrigated lands are equipped for irrigation with groundwater. 76 billion gallons of
groundwater a day (bgd) for all purposes. 49.5 bgd for agricultural irrigation.15.7 bgd for public
water supplies. 3.5 bgd for individual households through privately owned water wells 3 bgd for
livestock and aquaculture, 2.9 bgd for industry (self-supplied), 1.1 bgd for mining, Nearly 600
million gallons per day for thermoelectric power generation.

Occurrence in different types of rocks and soils

The earth surface are composed of both solids and voids. The solid part of course, much more
obvious than the voids, but without voids, these would be no water to supply wells and springs.
The rainfall that percolates below the ground surface passes through the voids of the rocks and
soils the water table. These voids are generally interred connected permitting the movements of
the groundwater. Some of the rocks are not permitting the water inside, hence the mode of
occurrence of ground water depends largely upon the type of formation, and hence upon the
geology of the area. Water bearing rocks consist either of unconsolidated deposits or
consolidated rocks.

Unconsolidated deposits important in ground water hydrology include in order increasing grain
size, clay, silt, sand and gravels. Consolidated rocks consist of mineral particles of different
sizes and shapes that have been welded by heat and pressure or by chemical reactions into a solid
mass. Such rocks are commonly referred to in ground-water reports as bedrock. Consolidated
sedimentary rocks important in ground-water hydrology include limestone, dolomite, shale,
siltstone, sandstone, and conglomerate . Igneous rocks include granite and basalt.

If the voids were formed at the same time as the rock, they are referred to as primary
openings
(1). The pores in sand and gravel and in other unconsolidated deposits are primary
openings. The lava tubes and other openings in basalt are also primary openings.
If the voids were formed after the rock was formed, they are referred to as secondary
openings
(2). The fractures in granite and in consolidated sedimentary rocks are secondary
openings. Voids in limestone, which are formed as ground water slowly dissolves the rock, are
an especially important type of secondary opening.

Vertical distribution of sub-surface water

The subsurface occurrence of groundwater may be divided into zones of aeration and zone of
saturation. The zone of aeration consists of interstices occupied partially by water and partially
by air. In the zone of saturation all interstices are filled with water, under hydrostatic pressure.
One most of the land masses of the earth, a single zone of aeration overlies a single zone of
saturation and extends upward to the ground surface.
Zone of aeration

In the zone of aeration (unsaturated zone), Openings partly filled with air and partly with water
zone. This general zone may be further subdivided into the soil water zone, the intermediate
Vadose zone (sub-soil zone), and capillary zone.

Soil water zone: The soil zone extends from the land surface to a maximum depth of a meter or
two and is the zone that supports plant growth. It is crisscrossed by living roots, by voids left by
decayed roots of earlier vegetation, and by animal and worm burrows.

Intermediate zone: The intermediate zone, as the name indicates lies between capillary fringe
and the belt of soil moisture. In areas where the water table lies close to the land surface, the
intermediate zone mat absent. In areas of deep water tables the intermediate zones may attain a
thickness of hundred of meters.

Capillary fringe: The lowest part of the unsaturated zone is occupied by the capillary fringe, the
subzone between the unsaturated and saturated zones. The capillary fringe results from the
attraction between water and rocks. As a result of this attraction, water clings as a film on the
surface of rock particles and rises in small-diameter pores against the pull of gravity. Water in
the capillary fringe and in the overlying part of the unsaturated zone is under a negative
hydraulic pressure-that is, it is under a pressure less than the atmospheric (barometric) pressure.

Zone of saturation

All openings are completely filled with water. When the soil water belt and intermediate
belt are completely filled to their full capacity, the infiltrating water moves downward and begins
accumulating over the impermeable zone of dense rock.

Water in the saturated zone is the only underground water that is available to supply
wells and springs and is the only water to which the name ground water is correctly applied.
Recharge of the saturated zone occurs by percolation of water from the land surface through the
unsaturated zone.

On this basis the saturated formations are classified into four categories. Aquifers, Aquitard,
Aquiclude, and Aquifuge

Aquifer
An aquifer is a ground-water reservoir composed of geologic units that are saturated with water
and sufficiently permeable to yield water in a usable quantity to wells and springs. Sand and
gravel deposits, sandstone, limestone, and fractured, crystalline rocks are examples of geological
units that form aquifers. Aquifers provide two important functions: (1) they transmit ground
water from areas of recharge to areas of discharge, and (2) they provide a storage medium for
useable quantities of ground water. The amount of water a material can hold depends upon its
porosity. The size and degree of interconnection of those openings (permeability) determine the
materials’ ability to transmit fluid.

Types of Aquifers
Most aquifers are of large areal extent and may be visualized as underground storage reservoirs.
Water enters a reservoir from natural or artificial recharge; it flows out under the action of
gravity or is extracted by wells. Ordinarily, the annual volume of water removed or replaced
represents only a small fraction of the total storage capacity. Aquifers may be classed as
unconfined or confined, depending on the presence or absence of a water table, while a leaky
aquifer represents a combination of the two types.

Unconfined Aquifer
An unconfined aquifer is one in which a water table varies in undulating form and in slope,
depending on areas of recharge and discharge, pumpage from wells, and permeability. Rises and
falls in the water table correspond to changes in the volume of water in storage within an aquifer.
Unconfined aquifers are also widely referred to as water-table aquifers.

Confined Aquifers
Confined aquifers, also known as artesian or pressure aquifers, occur where groundwater is
confined under pressure greater than atmospheric by overlying relatively impermeable strata. In
a well penetrating such an aquifer, the water level will rise above the bottom of the confining
bed, as shown by the artesian and flowing wells.
Water enters a confined aquifer in an area where the confining bed rises to the surface; where the
confining bed ends underground, the aquifer becomes unconfined. A region supplying water to a
confined area is known as a recharge area; water may also enter by leakage through a confining
bed. Rises and falls of water in wells penetrating confined aquifers result primarily from changes
in pressure rather than changes in storage volumes. Hence, confined aquifers display only small
changes in storage and serve primarily as conduits for conveying water from recharge areas to
locations of natural or artificial discharge.

Leaky Aquifer: Aquifers that are completely confined or unconfined occur less frequently than
do leaky, or semi-confined, aquifers. These are a common feature in alluvial valleys, plains, or
former lake basins where a permeable stratum is overlain or underlain by a semi-pervious
aquitard or semi confining layer.

Aquitard
An aquitard is a partly permeable geologic formation. It transmits water at such a slow rate that
the yield is insufficient. Pumping by wells is not possible. For example, sand lenses in a clay
formation will form an aquitard.
Aquiclude
An aquiclude is composed of rock or sediment that acts as a barrier to groundwater flow.
Aquicludes are made up of low porosity and low permeability rock/sediment such as shale or
clay. Aquicludes have normally good storage capacity but low transmitting capacity.

Aquifuge

An aquifuge is a geologic formation which doesn’t have interconnected pores. It is neither

porous nor permeable. Thus, it can neither store water nor transmit it. Examples of aquifuge are
rocks like basalt, granite, etc. without fissures.

PERCHED AQUIFERS

This occurs wherever a groundwater body is separated from the main groundwater by a relatively
impermeable stratum of small areal extent and by the zone of aeration above the main body of
groundwater. Clay lenses in sedimentary deposits often have shallow perched water bodies
overlying them. Wells tapping these sources yield only temporary or small quantities of water.
Porosity and Permeability

Porosity is the ratio of the volume of voids or pores in a soil mass to its total volume. Shape, size
and packing of the grains affect the porosity of granular material.
VV
n
VT
Where n= porosity, Vv = volume of voids and VT= total volume of voids

Is the percentage of rock or soil that is void of material. The larger the pore space or the greater
their number, the higher the porosity and the larger the water-holding capacity.

In sediments or sedimentary rocks the porosity depends on grain size, the shape of the grains, the
degree of sorting and the degree of cementation. In rocks, the porosity depends upon the extent,
spacing and pattern of cracks and fractures.

Relation between Texture and Porosity

A. Well –Sorted Sand Having High Porosity;
B. Poorly- Sorted Sand Having Low Porosity;
C. Fractured Crystalline Rocks (Granite);
D. Soluble Rock- Forming Material (Limestone).
Specific Yield

The volume of water, expressed as a percentage of the total volume of the saturated
aquifer, that can be drained by gravity is called the specific yield.

Specific yield (Sy)

The actual volume of water that can be extracted by gravity from a unit volume of aquifer
material is known as specific yield. specific yield depends on upon grain size, shape and
distribution of pores and compaction of the formation. The value of alluvial aquifers are
range of 10 to 20% and for uniform sands about 30 %.

Specific retention (Sr) is the rest of the water that is retained n  S y  S r

Storativity or the storage coefficient is the volume of water released from storage per
unit decline in hydraulic head in the aquifer, per unit area of the aquifer. Storativity is a
dimensionless quantity, and is always greater than 0.
  Permeability
Measure of how readily fluid passes through a material. Depends on the size of the pores and
how well they are interconnected. Clay has high porosity but low permeability.

– Sediment: Proportional to sediment size

• GravelExcellent

• SandGood

• SiltModerate

• ClayPoor

– Rock: Proportional to fracture size and number. Can be good to excellent (even
with low porosity)

DARCY’S LAW

Henry Darcy (1803-1858)

In 1856, French hydraulic engineer Henry Darcy was the 1st to do experiments with water
flow through a tube to see how rapidly it flowed & what the controlling factors

The flow of ground water, or any other fluid moving through rock is governed by an
empirical law, one derived from experimental observation, this expression for
groundwater flow is known as Darcy’s law.

Water flows from high elevation to low elevation and from high pressure to low pressure,
gradients in potential energy drive groundwater flow.

Darcy’s law which states that ‘the velocity of flow in a porous medium is proportional to
the hydraulic gradient’