Lecture 17: Ground Water Chap.

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STATISTICS AND DEFINITIONS The hydrologic cycle describes the constant exchange of water between oceans, atmosphere and continents - Has been operating on Earth for over 4 Ga Hydrosphere: the global waters of the Earth - Liquid and solid - Fresh and salty Total volume of water on Earth = 1.36 billion km3 97.20 % seawater 2.15 % glacier ice 0.62 % ground water 0.03 % inland seas, lakes, rivers, moisture in soil, atmosphere Why do people rely on ground water? - Ground water is the largest reservoir of fresh water readily available to humans 94% of Earths available fresh water is ground water (excluding glaciers) - Surface water is often limited in quantity -Surface water needs to be extensively treated before drinking 26% of Canadians rely of ground water for crop, livestock and domestic use - 2/3 of users in rural areas Atlantic Provinces are heavily dependent on ground water 100% in Prince Edward Island 90% of Ontario farms 1/3 of users in small communities -Many small communities in the Prairies use ground water wells for municipal supply ZONES OF SUBSURFACE WATER Unsaturated zone: near-surface zone of soil moisture, voids contain air and water Capillary fringe: zone where ground water is held by surface tension in tiny conduits between grains, - fluid pressure < atmospheric -Extending upward from the water table Saturated zone: zone where all the open spaces in rock (pores, fractures) are completely filled with water Rain water not held as soil moisture percolates down to form saturated zone Ground water: water filling the open spaces in rocks in the saturated zone Water table: upper limit of the saturated zone Wetland: area where the water table is at the surface RECHARGE AND DISCHARGE Water flows from areas where topography is highest (recharge areas) to topography where head is lowest (discharge areas) Variations of the water table depth - Shape is usually a subdued replica of the surface topography - Seasonal and annual depth variations

BASE FLOW Ground water serves as an equalizer of stream flow - Much of the water in a stream is not direct runoff of rain and snow melt, but comes from ground-water discharge (base flow) - Example: 65% of Lake Ontario comes from base flow Ground water acts as storage to sustain streams when rain is not falling SPRINGS Spring: localized discharge point occurring where the water table intersect the Earth`s surface Recall: porosity and void ratio Void Space Two quantitative measures of the relative amount of void space in a material: porosity & void ratio Both difficult to estimate in practice DARCYS LAW Henri Darcy: 19th century French engineer - Foundation of modern groundwater - Experiments of water flow through column of sand Established volumetric flow rate of water through saturated sand is proportional to the energy gradient - Loss of energy per unit length of flow path Darcys Law: equation describing flow through a porous medium

v=Q/A
v [m/s] : flow velocity Q [m3/s] : volumetric flow rate A [m2] : cross-sectional area of flow tube Hydraulic head h [m]: level to which water rises above a datum - Measured by a manometer Hydraulic gradient I [ ]: difference in hydraulic head between two points separated by a distance L[m]

I = (h2 h1) / L
ABILITY TO TRANSMIT FLUIDS One qualitative and two quantitative measures of the ability of a material to transmit fluids Qualitative : Permeability Quantitative : Intrinsic permeability & Hydraulic conductivity PERMEABILITY Permeability: general qualitative term describing the ability of a material to transmit fluids Permeability is a composite property of: - Material properties: size, shape and interconnectivity of the voids - Fluid properties: T, density, viscosity Intrinsic permeability k [m2]: portion of permeability" which is representative of the properties of the material alone Intrinsic permeability is a function of the characteristics of the voids through which the fluid moves - Interconnectivity of voids - Cementation - Size, shape and packing of grains - Fracturing

HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY Hydraulic conductivity K [m/s]: composite property describing the ability of a material to transmit water k : instrinsic permeability [m2] g : gravity acceleration [m/s2] 3 : density of water [kg/m ] : viscosity of water [Ns/m2] Important property in hydrogeology Higher the hydraulic conductivity K, better the reservoir conducts the water - Because density and viscosity of water does not vary much, K reflects mostly the intrinsic permeability of the reservoir DARCYS LAW: in practice

K=kg/

v = Q / A = - K (h2 - h1) / L
* Negative sign indicates a loss of energy along flow path - Friction between water and rock/soil - Friction between water molecules Datum for measuring hydraulic head is sea level - Difference between elevation and depth to water in well Direction of ground-water flow is from high to low hydraulic head Flow velocity - Typically cm/day AQUIFERS Aquifer: saturated body of rock or soil that transmits economically significant quantities of ground water Aquitard: body of rock or soil that does not transmit economically significant quantities of ground water Geological materials that form good aquifers: - Sand and gravel: moraine, alluvial fans, etc. - Fractured rocks: jointed rock masses, fault zones, deeply weathered zones, etc. - Soluble rocks: caves and channels in karst geology - Reef carbonates Two types of aquifers depending on the presence or not of an overlying aquitard Unconfined aquifer: - Aquifer that lacks an overlying aquitard * The water table is the upper boundary - Hydraulic head elevation of the water table * Contour lines of the well water levels drawn on a map indicate the direction of flow Confined aquifer (syn. artesian aquifer) - Aquifer bounded between overlying and underlying aquitards - No relation between the hydraulic head and the water table In some cases, the fluid pressure in the aquifer is so high that the head is above the land surface Flowing artesian well: well flowing without a pump **To ensure a continuous supply of water, well must penetrate into aquifer PRODUCTION OF WATER ***Overpumping lowers the water table, making it necessary to dig a deeper well

PRODUCTION OF WATER Cone of depression in confined aquifers - Cone of depression develops in the potentiometric surface without dewatering of aquifer - Decrease in fluid pressure - Reduction in porosity expels water within pores - Remains saturated - Decline in water table in vicinity of well - Cone-shaped area extending radially from the well - Material within the cone changes from saturated to unsaturated state - Reaches a state of equilibrium WATER QUALITY Ontario The Clean Water Act Following the Walkerton Inquiry, Ontario issued The Clean Water Act - Came into effect in July 2007 Multi-barrier approach to protecting drinking water - Surface and ground water Implementation 1.Source water protection zones established - In most cases, coincide with Conservation Authorities 2.Assessment report - Describe in- and out-flow - List threats and issues - Rank risks 3.Source protection plan