Groundwater levels under climate change in the Gnangara system, Western Australia

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian H. Gallardo
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Table ◽  
Western Australia ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Good Correspondence ◽  
Groundwater Levels ◽  
Aquifer Systems ◽  
The Status ◽  
Rainfall Reduction ◽  
The Impact

The Gnangara system is the main source of freshwater for Perth, Western Australia. However, aquifers in the region are under severe stress due to a drying climate, intensive pumping and changes in land use. The aim of this study is to apply the mean rainfall cumulative deviation and Mann-Kendall analyses at 77 monitoring bores to investigate the response of the water table to key recharge components. This information is critical for setting new allocation limits and reviewing current policies in the region. Results show that overall there is a good correspondence between water levels and rainfall fluctuations. Areas of groundwater recharge are highly sensitive to climate change and have been severely affected by reduction in rainfall rates in recent years. Further, removal of pine plantations correlated well with a rise in groundwater levels although the effect seems to be temporary. The impact of pumping is mainly observed in vicinities of public-supply borefields. Elsewhere, water table trends show a relative stabilisation indicating that storage still exceeds the influence of rainfall reduction in areas dominated by through flow or groundwater discharge. The study contributes to update the status of the Gnangara groundwater resource, and provides new insights for the sustainable management of one of the main aquifer systems in Australia.

Evaluation of the impacts of deep open drains on groundwater levels in the wheatbelt of Western Australia

2004 ◽  
Vol 55 (11) ◽  
pp. 1159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riasat Ali ◽  
Tom Hatton ◽  
Richard George ◽  
John Byrne ◽  
Geoff Hodgson
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Discharge Rate ◽  
Soil Surface ◽  
Extreme Rainfall ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Extreme Rainfall Event ◽  
Wet Season ◽  
Initial Water ◽  
Groundwater Levels ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Over one million hectares of the wheatbelt of Western Australia (WA) are affected by secondary salinisation and this area is expected to increase to between 3 and 5 million hectares if current trends continue. Deep open drains, as an engineering solution to dryland salinity, have been promoted over the past few decades; however, the results of initial experiments were variable and no thorough analysis has been done. This research quantifies the effects of deep open drains on shallow and deep groundwater at farm and subcatchment level. Analysis of rainfall data showed that the only dry year (below average rainfall) after the construction of drainage in the Narembeen area of WA (in 1998 and 1999) was 2002. The dry year caused some decline in groundwater levels in the undrained areas but had no significant impact in the drained areas. The study found that the effect of drains on the groundwater levels was particularly significant if the initial water levels were well above the drain bed level, permeable materials were encountered, and drain depth was adequate (2.0–3.0 m). Visual observations and evidence derived from this study area suggested that if the drain depth cut through more permeable, macropore-dominated siliceous and ferruginous hardpans, which exist 1.5–3 m from the soil surface, its efficiency exceeded that predicted by simple drainage theory based on bulk soil texture. The effect of drains often extended to distances away (>200 m) from the drain. Immediately following construction, drains had a high discharge rate until a new hydrologic equilibrium was reached. After equilibrium, flow largely comprised regional groundwater discharge and was supplemented by quick responses driven by rainfall recharge. Comparison between the hydrology of the drained and undrained areas in the Wakeman subcatchment showed that, in the valley floors of the drained areas, the water levels fluctuated mainly between 1.5 and 2.5 m of the soil surface during most of the year. In the valley floors of the undrained areas, they fluctuated between 0 and 1 m of the soil surface. The impact of an extreme rainfall event (or unusual wet season) on drain performance was predicted to vary with distance from the drain. Within 100 m from the drain, water levels declined relatively quickly, whereas it took a year before the water levels at 200–300 m away from the drain responded. The main guidelines that can be recommended based on the results from this study are the drain depth and importance of ferricrete layer. In order to be effective, a drain should be more than 2 m deep and it should cut through the ferricrete layer that exists in many landscapes in the wheatbelt.

scholarly journals Development of groundwater levels as a consequense of climate change

2012 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-34
Author(s):  
M. Pásztorová ◽  
J. Skalová ◽  
J. Vitková ◽  
M. Juráková
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Groundwater Level ◽  
Groundwater Resources ◽  
Winter Season ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Rainfall Regime ◽  
Wetland Ecosystems ◽  
Groundwater Levels ◽  
Run Off ◽  
The Impact

Development of groundwater levels as a consequense of climate changeClimate change poses a significant threat to many wetland ecosystems. Wetlands exist in a transition zone between aquatic and terrestrial environments and can be affected by slight alterations in regional hydrology, which can influence climate change through air temperature changes, regional changes in a rainfall regime, surface run-off, snow, duration of the winter season, groundwater resources and evapotranspiration.Climate change in wetland areas is most significantly reflected in water levels and adjacent groundwater levels, and it can significantly change the hydroecological proportions of wetland ecosystems and endanger rare wetland fauna and flora communities. The focus of this paper is the impact of climate change on the groundwater level in the Záhorie Protected Landscape area in the Zelienka national nature reservation. The impact of the climate change was solved through the meteorological characteristic changes adapted by the GISS98 and CCCM2000 climatic scenarios. The groundwater level was determined by the HYDRUS-ET model for the time frames 2010, 2030 and 2075 in 20-year time intervals and consequently compared to the reference period of 1971-1990.

scholarly journals A plea for a novel kind of ecohydrology: the interaction between hydrological processes and - endangered or not - wildlife

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jasper Griffioen ◽  
Martin Wassen ◽  
Joris Cromsigt
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Surface Water ◽  
Ecosystem Engineer ◽  
Sewage Water ◽  
Water Systems ◽  
Nature Reserves ◽  
Hydrological Processes ◽  
Groundwater Levels ◽  
Nature Restoration ◽  
The Impact

<p>Ecohydrology usually refers to the effects of hydrological processes on the occurrence, distribution and patterns of plants. Here, we emphasize a new kind of ecohydrology in which the effects of hydrological processes on the occurrence of – endangered or not - wildlife become addressed via the threat of its habitat or, oppositely, where the occurrence of wildlife leads to a threat of endangered fauna. We present three examples to illustrate this.</p><p>First, the habitat of the tiger in the Terai Arc Landscape (TAL) at the foot of the Himalayas seems to increasingly become threatened by changes in the hydrological conditions. Grasslands in floodplains are an important part of the tiger habitat as these are the grounds where the tiger preferably hunts for deer as his prey. Disturbances of the water systems such as gravel and sand extraction from the river beds, intake of water for irrigation and hydropower production are increasingly happening and climate change may further alter the Himalayan water systems. This seems to disturb the grasslands in their hydrological and hydromorphological dynamics, which may negatively impact the density of deer, which may put additional pressure on the tiger populations in the nature reserves of the TAL.</p><p>Second, ungulates are important mammals in the grasslands and savannah of southern Africa. The water availability for these animals may alter upon climate change, including higher frequencies of droughts. Research suggests that the community composition of ungulates may alter by this. Here, the larger water-dependent grazers may be replaced by smaller, less water-dependent species.</p><p>Third, the beaver is well-known as hydrological ecosystem engineer. The beaver, therefore, has obtained some attention within the context of ecohydrology. The impact of the beaver as ecosystem engineer is, however, peculiar for nature reserves at the Belgian-Dutch border. Surface water with poor quality due to lack of appropriate sewage water treatment is running along nature reserves. The reintroduction of the beaver causes a rise in the surface and groundwater levels due to its dam-building activities. This induces an introduction of polluted surface water into the Dutch wetlands which contain a less eutrofied ecosystem than the Belgian ones that were fed by the polluted surface water. Nature restoration may thus go on the expense of nature degradation.</p><p>These examples show that the ecohydrology of wildlife is as fascinating and diverse as classical ecohydrology is.</p>

scholarly journals Severe Drought in Finland: Modeling Effects on Water Resources and Assessing Climate Change Impacts

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 2450 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noora Veijalainen ◽  
Lauri Ahopelto ◽  
Mika Marttunen ◽  
Jaakko Jääskeläinen ◽  
Ritva Britschgi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Supply ◽  
Impact Analysis ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Severe Drought ◽  
Climate Change Scenarios ◽  
Economic Sectors ◽  
The Impact

Severe droughts cause substantial damage to different socio-economic sectors, and even Finland, which has abundant water resources, is not immune to their impacts. To assess the implications of a severe drought in Finland, we carried out a national scale drought impact analysis. Firstly, we simulated water levels and discharges during the severe drought of 1939–1942 (the reference drought) in present-day Finland with a hydrological model. Secondly, we estimated how climate change would alter droughts. Thirdly, we assessed the impact of drought on key water use sectors, with a focus on hydropower and water supply. The results indicate that the long-lasting reference drought caused the discharges to decrease at most by 80% compared to the average annual minimum discharges. The water levels generally fell to the lowest levels in the largest lakes in Central and South-Eastern Finland. Climate change scenarios project on average a small decrease in the lowest water levels during droughts. Severe drought would have a significant impact on water-related sectors, reducing water supply and hydropower production. In this way drought is a risk multiplier for the water–energy–food security nexus. We suggest that the resilience to droughts could be improved with region-specific drought management plans and by including droughts in existing regional preparedness exercises.

Implementation of NEMO v4.0.1 as ocean component for the regional climate modeling framework

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janna Abalichin ◽  
Birte-Marie Ehlers ◽  
Frank Janssen
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Baltic Sea ◽  
North Sea ◽  
Climate Modeling ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Regional Climate Modeling ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Climate Extreme ◽  
Modeling Framework ◽  
The Impact

<p>The ‘German Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change’ (DAS) provides the political framework to climate change mitigation and adaptation in Germany. The associated ‘Adaption Action Plan’ envisages the establishment of an operational forecasting and projection service for climate, extreme weather and coastal and inland waterbodies. This service is intended to make use of a regional climate modeling framework, with NEMO v4.0.(1) as the ocean component. The atmospheric component will be provided by the German Weather Service (either the current weather forecasting model ICON or COSMO will be used) and will be coupled to NEMO after testing and calibration of NEMO on the regional scale.</p><p>The area of interest includes besides the North Sea and the Baltic Sea the entire North-West-Shelf to take into account cross-shelf transport, the water exchange between North Sea and Baltic Sea and the impact of North Atlantic weather systems on the internal dynamics of the seas. One focus area will be German Bight, well known for its large tidal flats, which make wetting & drying a desirable model feature, which will be tested in future. The used/implemented bathymetry includes the up to date measurements of the sea floor from the EMODNET network.</p><p>To achieve a proper description of the dynamics in this region the model has to be calibrated with regard to the timing and amplitude of the water levels in the coastal waters, the water inflow through the Danish straits, the thermal stratification as well as the seasonality and thickness of the sea ice in the Northern Baltic Sea.</p><p>These efforts are carried out in the pilot project ‘Projection Service for Waterways and Shipping’ (ProWaS).</p>

Evaluation of 2018 drought and effectiveness of adaptation measures in the Netherlands

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marjolein H.J. van Huijgevoort ◽  
Janine A. de Wit ◽  
Ruud P. Bartholomeus
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Capillary Rise ◽  
Hydrological Drought ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Severe Drought ◽  
Drought Event ◽  
Groundwater Levels ◽  
The Impact

<p>Extreme dry conditions occurred over the summer of 2018 in the Netherlands. This severe drought event led to very low groundwater  and surface water levels. These impacted several sectors like navigation, agriculture, nature and drinking water supply. Especially in the Pleistocene uplands of the Netherlands, the low groundwater levels had a large impact on crop yields and biodiversity in nature areas. Projections show that droughts with this severity will occur more often in the future due to changes in climate. To mitigate the impact of these drought events, water management needs to be altered.</p><p>In this study, we evaluated the 2018 drought event in the sandy regions of the Netherlands and studied which measures could be most effective to mitigate drought impact. We have included meteorological, soil moisture and hydrological drought and the propagation of the drought through these types. Droughts were determined with standardized indices (e.g. Standardized Precipitation Index) and the variable threshold level method. Investigated measures were, for example, higher water levels in ditches, reduced irrigation from groundwater, and increased water conservation in winter. We also studied the timing of these measures to determine the potential for mitigating effects during a drought versus the effectiveness of long term adaptation. The measures were simulated with the agro-hydrological Soil–Water–Atmosphere–Plant (SWAP) model for several areas across the Netherlands for both agricultural fields and nature sites.</p><p>As expected, decreasing irrigation from groundwater reduced the severity of the hydrological drought in the region. Severity of the soil moisture drought also decreased in fields that were never irrigated due to the effects of capillary rise from the groundwater, but, as expected, increased in currently irrigated fields. Increasing the level of a weir in ditches had a relatively small effect on the hydrological drought, provided water was available to sustain higher water levels. This measure is, therefore, better suited as a long term change than as ad hoc measure during a drought. The effectiveness of the measures depended on the characteristics of the regions; for some regions small changes led to increases in groundwater levels for several months, whereas in other regions effects were lost after a few weeks. This study gives insight into the most effective measures to mitigate drought impacts in low-lying sandy regions like the Netherlands.</p>

The status of two boreo-alpine species,Somatochlora alpestrisandS. arctica, in Romania and their vulnerability to the impact of climate change (Odonata: Corduliidae)

2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geert De Knijf ◽  
Ulrich Flenker ◽  
Cédric Vanappelghem ◽  
Cosmin O. Manci ◽  
Vincent J. Kalkman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Impact Of Climate Change ◽  
Alpine Species ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Impact

scholarly journals Future Flows Hydrology: an ensemble of daily river flow and monthly groundwater levels for use for climate change impact assessment across Great Britain

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 1159-1178 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Prudhomme ◽  
T. Haxton ◽  
S. Crooks ◽  
C. Jackson ◽  
A. Barkwith ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
River Flow ◽  
Hydrological Modelling ◽  
Time Slice ◽  
Practical Recommendation ◽  
Hydrological Models ◽  
Groundwater Levels ◽  
Modelling Uncertainty ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. The dataset Future Flows Hydrology was developed as part of the project "Future Flows and Groundwater Levels" to provide a consistent set of transient daily river flow and monthly groundwater levels projections across England, Wales and Scotland to enable the investigation of the role of climate variability on river flow and groundwater levels nationally and how this may change in the future. Future Flows Hydrology is derived from Future Flows Climate, a national ensemble projection derived from the Hadley Centre's ensemble projection HadRM3-PPE to provide a consistent set of climate change projections for the whole of Great Britain at both space and time resolutions appropriate for hydrological applications. Three hydrological models and one groundwater level model were used to derive Future Flows Hydrology, with 30 river sites simulated by two hydrological models to enable assessment of hydrological modelling uncertainty in studying the impact of climate change on the hydrology. Future Flows Hydrology contains an 11-member ensemble of transient projections from January 1951 to December 2098, each associated with a single realisation from a different variant of HadRM3 and a single hydrological model. Daily river flows are provided for 281 river catchments and monthly groundwater levels at 24 boreholes as .csv files containing all 11 ensemble members. When separate simulations are done with two hydrological models, two separate .csv files are provided. Because of potential biases in the climate-hydrology modelling chain, catchment fact sheets are associated with each ensemble. These contain information on the uncertainty associated with the hydrological modelling when driven using observed climate and Future Flows Climate for a period representative of the reference time slice 1961–1990 as described by key hydrological statistics. Graphs of projected changes for selected hydrological indicators are also provided for the 2050s time slice. Limitations associated with the dataset are provided, along with practical recommendation of use. Future Flows Hydrology is freely available for non-commercial use under certain licensing conditions. For each study site, catchment averages of daily precipitation and monthly potential evapotranspiration, used to drive the hydrological models, are made available, so that hydrological modelling uncertainty under climate change conditions can be explored further. doi:10.5285/f3723162-4fed-4d9d-92c6-dd17412fa37b.

scholarly journals Impact of Climate Change Using Trend Analysis of Rainfall, RRL AWBM Toolkit, Synthetic and Arbitrary Scenarios

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Ayushi Trivedi ◽  
S. K. Pyasi ◽  
R. V. Galkate
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Kendall Test ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Temporal Analysis ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Groundwater Levels ◽  
Impact Of Climate Change ◽  
Geographical Regions ◽  
The Impact

The integrated approach for assessment of the impact of climate change is important, as climate impacts are likely to transcend sectoral or regional boundaries, with impacts of change in hydrological and geological behaviour of one sector affecting the behaviour of another or simultaneously any other sector, or region, to respond. Modelling is often used by hydrologists in the analysis of empirical data to gain insights into the underlying dynamics of simulated runoff and its trend changing pattern. Thus, these models extrapolate from a climate-related (usually temperature-related) relationship derived by observations and experiment. The climate changes have adverse and drastic impacts on climate-sensitive sectors such as water resources, agriculture and ultimately livelihood and economy of the people. Thus consequently increase or decrease in temperature, rainfall and other climatic parameters due to climate change affect the river discharge, flood, reservoir storages, groundwater levels, soil moisture, evapotranspiration, crop production, sea levels etc. Keeping this insight patches of major changes from the whole study area were selected to assess the intensity of rainfall, discharge and the incremental impact of rainfall. The temporal analysis in selected patches revealed that increment and decrement in the study area simultaneously affect the runoff by the same proportion. The trend generated through the Mann-Kendall test not only helped in assessing the impact of climate change but also identified its causative actors. The results of the study can effectively be utilized for setting priorities of hydrological behaviour in different geographical regions at various scales.

scholarly journals Assessment of the influence of the Viriva granite quarry on the condition of the surface and ground waters within the Vyry village

2021 ◽  
pp. 69-78
Author(s):  
S. A. Shevchuk ◽  
O. V. Zorina ◽  
A. M. Shevchenko ◽  
O. M. Kozytsky ◽  
Y. O. Mavrykin
Keyword(s):  
River Flow ◽  
Atmospheric Precipitation ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Open Pit ◽  
Groundwater Levels ◽  
Ground Waters ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Time Of Operation ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Village

Analyzed the results of their own research to assess the impact of the Vyrovsky granite quarry on the state of surface and ground waters within the village of Vyry, Sarny district, Rivne region of Ukraine. Research methods: hydrogeological, sanitary-chemical, analytical. It has been established that the technological process of extracting granite and producing construction crushed stone does not involve the use of a large amount of water. Pit water is used as process water without additional intake of surface or groundwater. The main problems during the exploitation of the car, which are found on the enterprises, are connected with water. The stench is overwhelmed by the surging of ground and surface waters and the need for input for the safety of normal minds of their exploitation. Significant watering of the area's surface is due to the abundance of atmospheric precipitation, relatively flat relief, the presence of a small thickness of sedimentary rocks covering the crystalline massifs. So, the chemical and biological pollution of the river. The extraction by quarry waters does not occur, since the results of laboratory studies of the quarry water did not show its contamination. In general, the Vyrovsky granite quarry does not affect the volume of the river flow. Alignment, for a long time of operation of the Vyrovsky granite quarry, the groundwater levels of the aquifer have already been established and currently remain relatively stable. Further development of the open pit area will not affect the lowering of the groundwater level within the village. Vyry. Decrease in water levels in wells and wells within the village. Vyry in recent years (2015-2020) is associated with climatic changes, which led to a decrease in precipitation, an increase in temperature and evaporation and, as a consequence, a very low water content in rivers practically throughout Ukraine.

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