KNS 3143 Engineering Hydrology

TOPIC: Extraction of Irreplaceable Groundwater

And Vanishing Aquifers

Prepared by:
• Wan Mohd Firdause Bin Wan Jesfrydi(46077)
“Save water even if you were on the banks of a flowing river.” –
Prophet Muhammad S.A.W.
(Narrated by Imam Ahmad)
Full article can be found at
National Geographic
Website:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/08/140819-
groundwater-california-drought-aquifers-hidden-crisis/
 What’s that article all about?

• Extraction of Irreplaceable Groundwater

• Vanishing Aquifers
• Future Water Scarcity Crisis
 California's Central
Valley has seen a

Extraction of dramatic rise in

well-drilling this
year to compensate
Irreplaceable for surface water
lost from the
drought.
Groundwater PHOTOGRAPH BY
PETER ESSICK,
NATIONAL
GEOGRAPHIC

”A new report from Stanford University says that

nearly 60 percent of the state's water needs are now
met by groundwater, up from 40 percent in years
when normal amounts of rain and snow fall.”(2014)
• Groundwater are being pumped extravagantly(California)
 Counter Drought
 Depleted River, snowpacks and lakes
 Shrinking water surface supplies
 Agriculture
• Main source of water in many country especially US
• Well drilling record for groundwater kept secret from public view (Knudson,
2014)
• No policies regulating groundwater use (Wilson, 2014)
• Groundwater supplies are declining
• Half groundwater depletion caused by irrigation globally (Scanlon,2012)
• Colorado River Basin – Losses groundwater dramatically (WaterMan, 2012)
 • Scarce groundwater supplies also are being
used for energy:
According to study from CERES(2014) – fracking
already occurs in dry region of US
Half of all fracking well are being drilled in the
region experiencing drought
• Groundwater depletion:
The Ogallala Aquifer supplies the water for center-pivot irrigation on
Water supplies for people and farming will be
farms in western Kansas. shrunk
PHOTOGRAPH BY GEORGE STEINMETZ, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
CREATIVE
Lead to vanishing aquifers
Water ‘fossils’ will be loss forever
 Vanishing Aquifers
• Aquifers - spongelike gravel and sand-filled underground reservoirs (spring,
well)
• Provide freshwater
• Half of US needs relying – groundwater from aquifers (USGS, 2016)
• Shallow aquifers – recharge from surface water
• Deeper aquifers
ancient water locked in the earth by changes in geology
thousands or millions of years ago.
Cannot recharge
once this "fossil" water is gone, it is gone forever
All the graphics will be shown below are from National Geographic:

30 % of all water used to irrigate U.S. agriculture is pumped here (High Plains Aquifers)
Some of its level are rising but many parts are decline
Dimick(2014):
• Two-thirds of the Ogallala’s(High Plains Aquifers) water reserves underlie
the state
• The flow of the Republican River has been reduced
• Pumped by thousand of Nebraska farmers
• Fed in part by groundwater seeping into the streambed
 The Prophet (Muhammad s.a.w.) said “The last Hour will not come unless
the land of the Arabs once again becomes green and rivers” – Muslim

Parker(2016):
 Over the past three decades, Saudi Arabia
has been drilling for groundwater

 Extracting hidden reserves of water to

grow grains, fruits, and vegetables in the
one of the driest places in the world.

 They are tapping into the aquifer at

unsustainable rates.

 On these NASA satellite images of the

Wadi As-Sirhan Basin, green indicates
crops, contrasting with the pink and
yellow of dry, barren land.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY NASA EARTH OBSERVATORY; FINAL ILLUSTRATION BY ROBERT SIMMON

 • Hundreds of years to accumulate
water.
• Half of the aquifer has less than a
hundred feet of saturated
thickness.
• At least 30 feet of saturated
thickness is necessary for large-
scale irrigation.
• Water table will drop as water is
pumped from the ground faster
than it can recharge (Dimick,
2014)
• Aquifers depleted - The land also
begin to subside (USGS, 2013)
How the Aquifers work (Source: National Geographic)
What Its Relation with Engineering Hydrology?
“To Provide Solution”
 Determination of Total Amount of Water
(Water Budget)
• Water that flows into the basin: precipitation and surface water imports
• The total amount of water that flows out of the basin.
• Outflow:
 Amount of groundwater extracted
 Evapotranspiration
 Consumptive use
 Surface water outflow
• Inflow - Outflow = Change in Storage(Groundwater level)
• More outflow, less inflow Drop of Groundwater level
Estimate specific yield and Project future rates
of extraction
• Specific yield – estimation amount of water that is available from an unconfined
aquifer
Calculate:
 amount of groundwater in storage
 decline in groundwater level
• Effect of such extractions on the movement of chemical constituents
Caused by:
 natural
 man-caused
• Groundwater extraction cause subsidence? Determine!
• If yes, prepare subsidence monitoring
Managing and Conserving Groundwater Supplies
• Develop new technologies and water efficiencies
• Inject desalinated water to recharge the aquifer like in Perth,
Australia(Parker, 2014)
• Regulate the pumping of groundwater
• “In west Texas, the city of Abernathy is drilling into a deeper aquifer that lies
beneath the High Plains aquifer and mixing the two to supplement the
municipal water supply.” (Parker, 2014)
 REFERENCES

• Dennis Dimmick(2014). If You Think the Water Crisis Can't Get Worse, Wait Until the Aquifers
Are Drained. Retrieved from: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/08/140819-
groundwater-california-drought-aquifers-hidden-crisis/
• Laura Parker(2014). What You Need to Know About the World's Water Wars. Retrieved from:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/07/world-aquifers-water-wars/
• Jacob, James, Parker(2014). A Vanishing Aquifer. Retrieved from:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2016/08/vanishing-aquifer-interactive-map/
• CERES(n.d.). Investor Guide to Fracking water risk. Retrieved from:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2016/08/vanishing-aquifer-interactive-map/
• USGS(2000). Groundwater resources for the future: Land Subsidence in the United States.
Retrieved from: http://water.usgs.gov/ogw/pubs/fs00165/
Q & A?
THANK YOU!