Drawdown and stream depletion produced by pumping in the vicinity of a partially penetrating stream.

Commonly used analytical approaches for estimation of pumping-induced drawdown and stream depletion are based on a series of idealistic assumptions about the stream-aquifer system. A new solution has been developed for estimation of drawdown and stream depletion under conditions that are more representative of those in natural systems (finite width stream of shallow penetration adjoining an aquifer of limited lateral extent). This solution shows that the conventional assumption of a fully penetrating stream will lead to a significant overestimation of stream depletion (> 100%) in many practical applications. The degree of overestimation will depend on the value of the stream leakance parameter and the distance from the pumping well to the stream. Although leakance will increase with stream width, a very wide stream will not necessarily be well represented by a model of a fully penetrating stream. The impact of lateral boundaries depends upon the distance from the pumping well to the stream and the stream leakance parameter. In most cases, aquifer width must be on the order of hundreds of stream widths before the assumption of a laterally infinite aquifer is appropriate for stream-depletion calculations. An important assumption underlying this solution is that stream-channel penetration is negligible relative to aquifer thickness. However, an approximate extension to the case of nonnegligible penetration provides reasonable results for the range of relative penetrations found in most natural systems (up to 85%). Since this solution allows consideration of a much wider range of conditions than existing analytical approaches, it could prove to be a valuable new tool for water management design and water rights adjudication purposes.

The steady-state dipole-flow test for characterization of hydraulic conductivity statistics in a highly permeable aquifer: Horkheimer Insel site, Germany.

Over the last decade the dipole-flow test (DFT) evolved from the general idea of using recirculatory flow to evaluate aquifer properties, to the development of prototype instrumentation and feasibility studies, to a reliable tool for characterization of aquifer heterogeneity. The DFT involves the interpretation of head in recirculatory flow between injection and extraction sections (chambers) in a single well isolated from each other by a multipacker system. In this study, the steady-state dipole flow test (DFT) has been used to characterize the statistics of horizontal hydraulic conductivity (Kr) of the highly permeable, heterogeneous, and thin aquifer at the Horkheimer Insel site, Germany. In previous studies, Kr estimates were based on the steady-state head difference between chambers. A new by-chamber interpretation is proposed that is based on drawdown within each individual chamber. This interpretation yields more detailed information on structure of heterogeneity of the aquifer without introducing complexity into the analysis. The DFT results indicate that Kr ranges from 49 to 6000 m/day (mean ln Kr [(m/s)] approximately -4, and variance of ln Kr [(m/s)] approximately 1-2). Descriptive statistics from the DFT compare well with those from previous field and laboratory tests (pumping, borehole flowmeter, and permeameter tests and grain-size analysis) at this site. It is shown that the role of confining boundaries in the DFT interpretation is negligible even in this case of a thin (< 4 m thick) aquifer. This study demonstrates the flexibility of the DFT and expands the potential application of this method to a wide range of hydrogeologic settings.