Influence of Shallow Groundwater Evapotranspiration on Recharge Estimation Using the Water Table Fluctuation Method

• Published in: Water resources research 2022-10, Vol.58 (10), p.n/a
• Main Authors: Boumis, Georgios, Kumar, Mukesh, Nimmo, John R., Clement, T. Prabhakar
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aquifers; Constants; Estimates; Evapotranspiration; Evapotranspiration estimates; Evapotranspiration rates; Groundwater; Groundwater levels; Groundwater recession; Groundwater recharge; Groundwater table; Hydrographs; Methods; parsimonious models; recession constant; Recession curve; Recession curves; recharge modeling; seasonal recharge; Seasonal variation; Seasonal variations; Seasons; Water table
• ISSN: 0043-1397; 1944-7973
• DOI: 10.1029/2022WR032073

Groundwater recharge moves downward from the land surface and reaches the groundwater to replenish aquifers. Despite its importance, methods to directly measure recharge remain cost and time‐intensive. Recharge is usually estimated using indirect methods, such as the widely used water‐table fluctuation (WTF) method, which is based on the premise that rises in groundwater levels are due to recharge. In the WTF method, recharge is calculated as the difference between the observed groundwater hydrograph and the hydrograph obtained in the absence of water input. The hydrograph in the absence of rise‐producing input is estimated based on a characteristic master recession curve (MRC), which describes an average behavior for a declining water‐table. Previous studies derive MRC using recession data from all seasons. We hypothesize that for sites where groundwater table is shallow, using recession data from periods with high groundwater‐influenced evapotranspiration (ET) rates versus all periods will yield significantly different MRC, and consequently different estimates of recharge. We test this hypothesis and show that groundwater recession rates are significantly greater in warm months when the groundwater‐influenced ET rates are higher. Since obtaining seasonal recession rates is challenging for locations with a limited amount of data and is prohibitive if it is to be obtained for any given season of a particular year, we propose two novel parsimonious methods to obtain recession time constants for distinct seasons. The proposed methods show the potential to significantly improve the estimates of seasonal recession time constants and provide a better understanding of seasonal variations in recharge estimates. Key Points Seasonal variations in evapotranspiration (ET) bias groundwater level recession rates in shallow aquifers Seasonal recharge estimates from Water Table Fluctuation method can be markedly different depending on whether seasonal variations in recession rates are accounted or not Two novel methods to quantify ET's influence on groundwater recession, and consequently on seasonal recharge, are presented