1.

Gound Water - Groundwater is the water found underground in the cracks and spaces
in soil, sand and rock. It is stored in and moves slowly through geologic formations of
soil, sand and rocks called aquifers.

2. Geology- the science that deals with the earth's physical structure and substance, its
history, and the processes that act on it.

3. A. Confined Aquifer- A confined aquifer is an aquifer below the land surface that is
saturated with water. Layers of impermeable material are both above and below
the aquifer, causing it to be under pressure so that when the aquifer is penetrated by a
well, the water will rise above the top of the aquifer.

b. Unconfined Aquifer- A groundwater aquifer is said to be unconfined when its upper

surface (water table) is open to the atmosphere through permeable material. As
opposed to a confinedaquifer, the water table in an unconfined aquifer system has no
overlying impervious rock layer to separate it from the atmosphere.

4. Well Yield - Well yield is a sustainable rate of water flow, usually expressed in gallons per
minute (gpm), that a well can draw continuously over an extended period.
5. Specific Capacity- he Specific Capacity of a well is simply the pumping rate (yield) divided
by the drawdown (Figure 1). It is a very valuable number that can be used to provide the design
pumping rate or maximum yield for the well.
6. Static Water Level - Static water level refers to the level of water in a well under normal,
undisturbed, no-pumping conditions. Static water level is best determined when the well has
not been pumped for several hours prior to measuring. You may get a false reading if the well
was pumped just before the static water level is measured.

7. Dynamic Water level- Dynamic water level or stabilized pumping level means
the level of water in the well during the pump test.

8. Draw Down- Draw down means the difference measured in feet between the static
and dynamic water levels.

9. Cone of depression - A cone of depression occurs in an aquifer when groundwater is

pumped from a well. In an unconfined aquifer (water table), this is an actual depression of the
water levels. In confined aquifers (artesian), the cone of depression is a reduction in the
pressure head surrounding the pumped well.

10. Transmissivity- the degree to which a medium allows something, in particular

electromagnetic radiation, to pass through it.
11. StorATIVITY- 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 ranges between 0 and the effective
porosity of the aquifer.
12. Percuction-

13. Pumping Test- A pumping test is a field experiment in which a well is pumped at
a controlled rate and water-level response (drawdown) is measured in one or more
surrounding observation wells and optionally in the pumped well (control well)
itself; response data from pumping tests are used to estimate the hydraulic
properties of aquifers, evaluate well performance and identify aquifer boundaries.

PRINCIPLES AND IMPORTANCE OF PUMPING TEST

7.3.2 Principles of pumping tests

Aquifer tests

The principle of an aquifer test is rather simple. From a well having a screen in the aquifer to be
tested, water is pumped during a certain period of time and at a certain rate. The effect of this
pumping on the water table is measured in the pumped well and in some piezometers in the
vicinity. The hydraulic characteristics of the aquifer are then found by substituting the drawdown
measured in these piezometers, their distance from the pumped well and the well discharged.

Well tests

The procedure for a well test, intended to determine the capacity of the well, is somewhat less
complicated than for an aquifer test because piezometers are not required. Only the yield and the
drawdown are measured. Owing to the high cost of aquifer tests and the usually limited funds
available for such tests, their number in most regional groundwater studies must be
restricted.Nevertheless, when knowledge of the area distribution of aquifer characteristics is
needed, well test data may be used to approximate these characteristics provided that one accepts
a certain, sometimes appreciable error.

A well test is accomplished by measuring the static water level, after which the well is pumped at
a maximum rate until the water level in the well stabilizes. The depth to the water is then noted.
The difference in depths is the drawdown, and the discharge - drawdown ratio is an estimate of the
specific capacity of the well. The discharge can be determined by any of several measuring devices
connected to the discharge pipe.

Quiz
Why should we bother gathering knowledge of hydraulic characteristics of the aquifer through
pumping tests?

The reason as to why it is important to gather knowledge of hydraulic characteristics of the aquifer
through pumping test is because there are numerous of ground water flow problems whose solution
requires proper knowledge of the hydraulic properties of the aquifers. The number of pumping
tests to be performed, the site of these tests and the general set up depend upon the kind of problem
to be solved, the amount of information that is desired and, of course, upon the funds available for
the test programme.

The problem involved may be a local one of predicting future drawdown where a new well field
is to be established for domestic water supply. It may also be a more regional one of determining
the quantity of water that may be withdrawn from a large groundwater basin, or the problem of
determining the seepage flow intensity of the water logged areas.

The goal of a pumping test, as in any aquifer test, is to estimate hydraulic

properties of an aquifer system. For the pumped aquifer, one seeks to
determine transmissivity, hydraulic conductivity (horizontal and vertical)
and storativity (storage coefficient). In layered systems, one also uses pumping
tests to estimate the properties of aquitards (verticalhydraulic
conductivity and specific storage). Pumping tests can identify and locate recharge
and no-flow boundaries that may limit the lateral extent of aquifers as well.