research on underground water

How quickly does groundwater recharge? The answer is found deep underground

Professor, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, UNSW Sydney

Senior researcher, Hydrology/hydrogeology, Flinders University

Associate Professor Human Geography, UNSW Sydney

Research Scientist, Environment Business Unit, CSIRO

Professor of Environmental Engineering, Deakin University

Disclosure statement

Andy Baker receives funding from the Australian Research Council

Margaret Shanafield receives funding from the Australian Research Council. She is also affiliated with the Environmental Defenders Office.

Marilu Melo Zurita receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

Stacey Priestley is also affiliated with the University of Adelaide.

Wendy Timms receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the CO2CRC and the Victorian Government. She is also affiliated with UNSW Sydney.

CSIRO provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation AU.

Deakin University , UNSW Sydney , and Flinders University provide funding as members of The Conversation AU.

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You would have learned about the “water cycle” in primary school – water’s journey, from evaporation to rainfall to flowing in a stream or sinking into the ground to become groundwater.

Despite how simple it sounds, there are actually some large unknowns in the cycle – especially concerning groundwater.

We don’t know, for example, how fast aquifers – porous rock layers saturated with water – recharge. Or how much water actually makes it underground. And how much rain do you need to refill these underground reservoirs?

These questions are crucial because we rely very heavily on groundwater. It’s far and away the world’s largest source of fresh water we can access. There’s more water in the polar ice, but we can’t use it.

Our research team has been exploring a new approach to groundwater: going down to where the water is, using caves, tunnels and mines. We have installed a new network of groundwater sensors in 14 sites across Australia’s southeast – some more than 100 metres below the surface.

This is already giving us valuable data. For instance, in old mines in the Victorian gold mining town of Walhalla, we found it took more rain than we expected to start the recharge.

Why does groundwater recharge matter?

Worldwide, we are using groundwater much faster than it can naturally replenish. Researchers have found rapid declines in the water table of over 0.5 metres a year across many regions globally.

This is a real concern for Australia, the world’s driest inhabited continent. While the tropical north gets plenty of rain, it’s harder to come by elsewhere.

Across the continent, groundwater accounts for 17% of our accessible water resources. But it accounts for more than 30% of our total water use.

Groundwater is an essential resource, estimated to contribute A$6.8 billion to GDP.

In the Murray Darling Basin, groundwater extraction increased between 2003 and 2016, reaching 1,335 billion litres a year on average.

Native plants and animals in arid regions often rely entirely on groundwater bubbling up through springs.

Perth relied so heavily on groundwater that it’s depleting its aquifer , forcing the government to build desalination plants. Even now, Western Australia relies on groundwater for two-thirds of its water needs.

This is why recharge rates matter. If we’re using groundwater at the same rate it recharges or less, that’s sustainable use. But if we’re pumping out far more than it can refill, that’s unsustainable.

Groundwater recharges from rainfall which seeps through the soil into deeper layers where evaporation can’t get to it. It can also refill from surface waters. But recharge is difficult to measure accurately.

How can we better track groundwater recharging?

Researchers in Darwin recently undertook the largest analysis to date of long-term rainfall recharge across Australia. They used 98,000 estimates of recharge rates, using data from bores and machine learning algorithms.

The result was surprising. They estimated the average recharge rate for the Australian continent was just 44 millimetres per year. But it differs a great deal depending on where you are. In humid, wet climates such as across the Top End, the water table rose by 203mm a year. But in arid climates, it was just 6mm.

For comparison, the typical annual rainfall in Sydney and Brisbane is just over 1,000mm per year.

This study poses a challenge to our understanding of groundwater recharge. The estimates in this study are substantially lower than studies relying on contemporary water balance models, which report more than double the amount of recharge for Australia.

One issue is the Darwin research was not able to show where the groundwater came from or how old the water is. You might think groundwater recharges quickly, but a quick recharge means it takes years. A slow recharge can take thousands of years.

This gap is a concern. Our water authorities need the most accurate data possible on annual recharge rates – and the age of the water.

Our network of hydrological loggers are now gathering underground data in sites such as the gold mine in Stawell, in Victoria, and South Australia’s Naaracoorte Caves, famous for fossils, as well as mines and tunnels in New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania.

Natural caves and groundwater are often fairly shallow. We wanted to get deeper data, which is why we chose mines. Our deep sites are over 100 metres underground.

Our sensors can detect each groundwater recharge event by doing something very simple: counting drips from the ceiling, and comparing them to what’s happening on the surface, so we can see where and when groundwater recharges.

Last month, we presented initial results, which show large variation.

Walhalla lies in the foothills of the Great Dividing Range outside Melbourne. It’s relatively rainy, with over 1,200mm per year.

Our sensors showed us the water table here had recharged 15 separate times over the 18 months to March 2024.

Despite the high annual rainfall, more than 40mm of rainfall over two days was needed to overcome dry summer conditions and cause recharge to start.

By contrast, Stawell’s gold mine is in an arid climate ~200 kilometres west of Melbourne, with under 500mm of rain annually. Even 100 metres underground, we could see water from rainfall moving through small pathways in the rock. But unlike Walhalla, we could not see the effects of individual rainstorms. By the time the water got that deep, any pulses were smoothed out.

We hope our data will be useful to groundwater researchers and water authorities, and expand how much we know about a resource we think little about – but which matters a great deal to how we live.

Read more: Decades of less rainfall have cut replenishing of groundwater to 800-year low in WA

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Groundwater: Understanding and Protecting Our Hidden Resource

Published October 18, 2021

Groundwater is one of the most extracted raw materials in the world, providing about half of the drinking water supply worldwide. This source of drinking water is found underground, so unlike the visible lakes and rivers around us, this resource is not something most of us think about very often.

EPA researchers have long studied the fundamentals of groundwater science to protect and restore it, including how water is transported through the subsurface and how contaminants can move underground.

Groundwater supplies are highly dependent on rainfall reaching the ground, and then moving downward through the soil to the aquifer. On natural or planted surfaces, some of the falling rain penetrates the soil, like water percolating through coffee grounds, eventually reaching and replenishing the groundwater stores underground. But often our modern cityscapes, paved roads, parking lots, and other hard surfaces don’t always allow the rain to naturally reach the soil. Instead, it runs off these surfaces to nearby surface waters, or is transported to wastewater treatment plants via sewer systems, where it’s often discharged to surface waters. When groundwater supplies are not replenished by rainfall, the underground storage volume decreases. Incorporating features like rain gardens and permeable pavements is one way to help increase the amount of rainfall reaching the ground, giving the water cycle and groundwater supplies a boost.

EPA researchers are developing applications and tools for understanding processes like groundwater flow models, contaminant transport models, and how different subsurface materials, like different types of rock, affect the movement of both water and contaminants.

As water moves from place to place – whether it’s soaking into the ground in a field, running down a street gutter, or infiltrating through a built system like a rain garden – it can carry along contaminants that it may encounter. Road salts from de-icing operations, oil and gas products from cars, pesticides and lawn fertilizers, heavy metals, litter, and pathogens from animal waste are all present in the environment and can be carried away by water. Regardless of where a pollutant enters our water supply, it can persist as it moves through the water cycle.

“EPA is focused on protecting groundwater to maintain quality sources of drinking water,” said the Office of Groundwater and Drinking Water Director, Jennifer McLain. “EPA researchers provide the scientific basis for EPA’s policies and regulations protecting groundwater.”

EPA is also researching the use of stormwater and treated wastewater for aquifer recharge, and how green infrastructure practices and fertilizer applications in agricultural operations can affect groundwater quality.

The movement of water in the water cycle is continuous and connected, and our behaviors and activities are part of that cycle. Groundwater quality and quantity is affected by human activities, both beneficial and harmful. While we can’t see groundwater the way we can see lakes and streams, groundwater shouldn’t be left out of the conversation about clean water or the efforts to protect it.

Read More about EPA’s Groundwater Research:

Science Matters: Over 50 Years of Groundwater Research at EPA’s Kerr Lab in Ada, Oklahoma

Science Matters: Protecting Groundwater Resources within the Arbuckle-Simpson Aquifer in Oklahoma

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Underground Water Flows Detection and Mapping by Direct-Prospecting Geoelectric Methods

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• First Online: 02 February 2019
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• S. Levashov 4 ,
• N. Yakymchuk 4 ,
• I. Korchagin 5 &
• D. Bozhezha 4  

Part of the book series: Springer Proceedings in Earth and Environmental Sciences ((SPEES))

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Many years of experience in the practical application of non-classical geoelectric methods of forming a short-pulsed field (FSPEF) and vertical electric-resonance sounding (VERS) for various problems of the near-surface geophysics solving demonstrates their high efficiency in searching and delineating subsurface water flows and aquifers. The results of our study indicate that the zone of rocks moistening, underground water streams of natural and man-caused origin and aquifers are detected and mapped operatively by a real survey with FSPEF method. The depth of lying and thicknesses of water-saturated horizons are determined with a high accuracy by VERS sounding. Field works of such character are often executed very operatively and easily. The results of geophysical studies show the effectiveness of FSPEF survey method and VERS and GPR soundings methods in dealing with the detection and mapping of underground water flows. Practical application of this technology during the geotechnical studies conducting for the construction of large engineering projects can bring significant economic benefits by reducing significantly the duration of exploration work and the drilling activity reduction.

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Levashov, S., Yakymchuk, N., Korchagin, I., Bozhezha, D. (2019). Underground Water Flows Detection and Mapping by Direct-Prospecting Geoelectric Methods. In: Nurgaliev, D., Khairullina, N. (eds) Practical and Theoretical Aspects of Geological Interpretation of Gravitational, Magnetic and Electric Fields. Springer Proceedings in Earth and Environmental Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97670-9_31

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Groundwater Declines in the U.S. Southwest

2002 - 2023 JPEG

Record snowfall in recent years has not been enough to offset long-term drying conditions and increasing groundwater demands in the U.S. Southwest, according to a new analysis of NASA satellite data.

Declining water levels in the Great Salt Lake and Lake Mead have been testaments to a megadrought afflicting western North America since 2000. But surface water only accounts for a fraction of the Great Basin watershed, which covers most of Nevada and large portions of California, Utah, and Oregon. Far more of the region’s water is underground. That has historically made it difficult to track the impact of droughts on the overall water content of the Great Basin.

A new look at 20 years of data from the GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) and GRACE-FO satellites shows that the decline in groundwater in the Great Basin far exceeds stark surface water losses. Over about the past two decades, the underground water supply in the basin has fallen by 16.5 cubic miles (68.7 cubic kilometers). That’s roughly two-thirds as much water as the entire state of California uses in a year and about six times the total volume of water that was left in Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir, at the end of 2023.

The map above shows changes in stored water between April 2002 and September 2023. Notice that some of the largest rates of loss (red) occurred across parts of Southern California, which has been severely affected by water declines in the Great Basin region. Data for this map and the chart below were derived from the joint German DLR-NASA GRACE missions. GRACE-based maps of fluctuating water levels have improved recently as researchers have learned to parse more and finer details from the dataset.

2002 - 2023

The satellite-derived data show a seasonal rise in water each spring due to melting snow from higher elevations, visible as the bumps in the chart above. But University of Maryland Earth scientist Dorothy Hall said occasional snowy winters are unlikely to stop the dramatic water level decline that’s been underway in the U.S. Southwest. This decline is apparent in the chart’s overall downward trend, especially after 2012. The finding came about as Hall and colleagues studied the contribution of annual snowmelt to Great Basin water levels.

“In years like the 2022–23 winter, I expected that the record amount of snowfall would really help to replenish the groundwater supply,” Hall said. “But overall, the decline continued.” The research was published in March 2024 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters .

“A major reason for the decline is the upstream water diversion for agriculture and households,” Hall said. Populations in the states that rely on Great Basin water supplies have grown by 6–18 percent since 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. “As the population increases, so does water use.”

Runoff, increased evaporation, and the water needs of plants suffering from hot, dry conditions in the region are amplifying the problem. “With the ongoing threat of drought,” Hall said, “farmers downstream often can’t get enough water.”

According to the new findings, Hall said, “The ultimate solution will have to include wiser water management.”

NASA Earth Observatory images by Wanmei Liang , using data from Hall, Dorothy, et al. (2024) . Text by James R. Riordon/NASA’s Earth Science News Team, adapted from a story first published on June 17, 2024.

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Record snowfall has not been enough to offset groundwater losses amid long-term drying and a heightened demand for the resource.

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References & Resources

• Hall, D. K., et al. (2024) Snowfall Replenishes Groundwater Loss in the Great Basin of the Western United States, but Cannot Compensate for Increasing Aridification . Geophysical Research Letters , 51(6), e2023GL107913.
• NASA (2024, June 17) NASA Satellites Find Snow Didn’t Offset Southwest US Groundwater Loss . Accessed June 24, 2024.

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Assessment of the quality of groundwater for drinking purposes in the Upper West and Northern regions of Ghana

• Sixtus Bieranye Bayaa Martin Saana 1 ,
• Samuel Asiedu Fosu 1 ,
• Godfred Etsey Sebiawu 1 ,
• Napoleon Jackson 2 &
• Thomas Karikari 2  

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Underground water is an important natural resource serving as a reliable source of drinking water for many people worldwide, especially in developing countries. Underground water quality needs to be given a primary research and quality control attention due to possible contamination. This study was therefore designed to determine the physico-chemical and bacteriological quality of borehole water in the Upper West and Northern regions of Ghana.

The study was conducted in seven districts in Ghana (including six in the Upper West region and one in the Northern region). The bacterial load of the water samples was determined using standard microbiological methods. Physico-chemical properties including pH, total alkalinity, temperature, turbidity, true colour, total dissolved solids (TDS), electrical conductivity, total hardness, calcium hardness, magnesium hardness, total iron, calcium ion, magnesium ion, chloride ion, fluoride ion, aluminium ion, arsenic, ammonium ions, nitrate and nitrite concentrations were determined. The values obtained were compared with the World Health Organization (WHO) standards for drinking water.

The recorded pH, total alkalinity and temperature ranges were 6.14–7.50, 48–240 mg/l and 28.8–32.8 °C, respectively. Furthermore, the mean concentrations of iron, calcium, magnesium, chloride, fluoride, aluminium, arsenic, ammonium, nitrate and nitrite were 0.06, 22.11, 29.84, 13.97, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.01, 2.09 and 0.26 mg/l, respectively. Turbidity, true colour, TDS and electrical conductivity of the water samples ranged from 0.13 to 105 NTU, 5 to 130 HU, 80.1 to 524 mg/l and 131 to 873 µS/cm, respectively. In addition, the mean total hardness value was found to be 178.07 mg/l whereas calcium hardness and magnesium hardness respectively were 55.28 and 122.79 mg/l. Only 14% of the water samples tested positive for faecal coliforms.

The study revealed that only a few of the values for the bacteriological and physico-chemical parameters of the water samples were above the tolerable limits recommended by the WHO. This calls for regular monitoring and purification of boreholes to ensure good water quality.

Water is a major constituent of all living things. For example, water makes up approximately two-thirds of the human body weight (Gore 2006 ). Currently, there are about two billion people worldwide who lack access to safe drinking water (Onda et al. 2012 ). The consequences of drinking unsafe, contaminated water are numerous and are still not fully understood. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), drinking contaminated water is one of the major causes of diarrheal diseases; these diseases make up the second leading cause of child mortality, resulting in the death of about 760,000 children aged <5 years annually (WHO 2014 ). For this reason, the WHO has identified the lack of access to clean drinking water as the most critical factor that negatively influences the general health and wellbeing of populations in developing countries (Hoko 2005 ). Overall, the provision of safe drinking water can help to reduce or eliminate preventable deaths (such as those emanating from waterborne diseases) and improve the quality of life for low-income households around the world (Lawson 2011 ).

Availability of safe and reliable source of water is an essential prerequisite for sustained population growth and development (Asonye et al. 2007 ). Groundwater is a vital source of water supply for about one-third of the world’s population (Nickson et al. 2005 ). For example, over 50% of the water requirements of advanced industrialised countries such as United States of America, Germany and Denmark are derived from groundwater resources (Trauth and Xanthopoulos 1997 ). According to Boswinkle ( 2000 ), groundwater constitutes nearly 90% of the world’s readily available freshwater resources, with the remaining 10% from lakes, reservoirs, rivers and wetlands. In addition, groundwater irrigation of arable lands supports the growth of an estimated 40% of the global agricultural production (DFID 2001 ). In sub-Saharan Africa, groundwater is the most reliable source of drinking water (Idiata 2011 ).

Comparatively, groundwater contamination is not as common as surface water but once contaminated, treatment is often difficult and time consuming (Agbaire and Oyibo 2009 ). Underground water contamination is one of the main environmental issues today due to improper and indiscriminate disposal of sewage, industrial and chemical waste (Obot and Edi 2012 ). These sources of contamination may influence important biological, physical and chemical variables of groundwater (Sappa et al. 2013 ). Contaminants that are mainly associated with groundwater pollution include nitrates, pesticides and faecal coliforms. Furthermore, human activities such as land use and the intervention in the natural flow patterns are often implicated in groundwater pollution (Schot and van der Wal 1992 ). It is therefore critical to first assess the quality of ground water before it can be exploited for human consumption. This is, however, not always the case in many developing countries, sometimes due to financial and poor quality control issues (Hoko 2005 ). In such countries, physico-chemical and microbiological monitoring of water quality could serve as a convenient tool for examining potential contamination and to help decision-makers in evaluating the effectiveness of regulatory programmes in managing water resources (Pusatli et al. 2009 ; Song and Kim 2009 ; Sadiq et al. 2010 ). These approaches are recognised by the WHO in its Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality (WHO 2011 ). In this document, the WHO outlines its health-based targets for many potential water contaminants. These targets imply any measurable health, water quality or performance variables that are established based on a judgment of safety and risk assessments of waterborne hazards. The health-based targets for contaminants provide a framework for achieving safe drinking water, creating a water safety plan and maintaining water surveillance by policymakers.

Ghana as a lower middle-income country is confronted with various challenges including the provision of potable water for its growing population to meet the Millennium Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals (Obuobie and Boubacar 2010 ). This challenge is even more evident in the northern parts of the country due to the limited number of surface water resources, compelling people to resort to the use of underground water (Sebiawu et al. 2014 ). These data suggest that groundwater is an important natural resource that affects the health and wellbeing of many people worldwide. Due to this, the quality of this resource should be given a primary research and quality control attention.

Although periodical evaluation of drinking water quality is recommended, this is not the case in many parts of Ghana, particularly in communities that depend solely on boreholes for their water needs (Entsua-Mensah et al. 2007a , b ). Owing to this, water contamination events may be missed possibly leading to serious effects on human lives. For example, in a survey of user satisfaction of community water systems in Ghana, respondents expressed concern about possible contamination resulting from equipment corrosion (Entsua-Mensah et al. 2007a , b ). Others said that the water turned milky after heavy rainfall, suggesting possible contamination by undesirable materials (Entsua-Mensah et al. 2007a , b ). The main objective of this study was to evaluate the quality of borehole water in different communities in selected districts of the Upper West and Northern regions of Ghana.

The study was conducted in six out of the eleven administrative districts in the Upper West region namely Wa West, Wa Municipal, Wa East, Nadowli-Kaleo, Jirapa and Sissala West as well as the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba district in the Northern region of Ghana (Table  1 ). The districts studied are located in the Guinea Savannah belt of the northwestern corner of Ghana. The climate of the study area follows a general pattern identified within the three regions of northern Ghana (Ghana Districts 2006 ). It has a single rainy season from April to September, with average annual rainfall of about 115 cm (Ghana Districts 2006 ). This is followed by a prolonged dry season from early November to March. The mean monthly temperature ranges between 21 and 32 °C. Before the onset of the rainy season, temperatures rise to their maximum (40 °C) and fall to their minimum (20 °C) during harmattan ( http://www.ghana.gov.gh/index.php/about-ghana/regions/upper-west ). The area has an almost flat topography with elevations generally between 275 and 300 m above sea level ( http://www.ghana.gov.gh/index.php/about-ghana/regions/upper-west ). The Black Volta river runs through the entire length of the area and it is drained by tributaries, which provide sources of water during the dry season (Cobbina et al. 2012 ). The study area covers a geographical area of approximately 18,478 square kilometres. Details of the regions, districts and communities from which samples were taken are provided in Table  1 . The selection of these communities was motivated by the following reasons:

Rural communities and small towns are not served by central water production and treatment systems that carry out regular quality control checks.

Regular quality analysis is not conducted on the boreholes that serve these communities.

The borehole water often takes its source from streams and rivers that may become contaminated with solid waste, chemicals and faeces.

Geological framework

The geology of the study area is characterised by basement crystalline rocks derived from the Precambrian era and principally comprise the Birimian rocks and associated granitoid intrusions (Leube et al. 1990 ; Taylor et al. 1992 ; Hirdes et al. 1992 ). The Birimian rocks include biotite and muscovite—bearing granite, granodiorite, diorite and gabbro, phyllites, schist, tuffs, basalt, sandstones, siltstones and strongly deformed metamorphic rocks (Nude and Arhin 2009 ). These rocks occur in the southwest and the northeast of the study area whilst Upper Birimian rocks comprising metamorphosed lavas and pyroclastic rocks underlie the south-eastern portion of the area. Basal sandstone of the Lower Voltaian System also underlies the extreme northeast section of the study area.

The basement crystalline rocks are essentially impermeable with very little porosity. The existence of ground water is as a result of chemical weathering and fracturing leading to the formation of aquifers (Obuobie and Boubacar 2010 ). The depth of the aquifers in the northern part of Ghana are semi confined and have depth ranging from 10 to 60 m. The aquifer recharge has been found to be mainly through precipitation (Obuobie 2008 ; Martin 2006 ).

Sample collection

A total of 50 samples from boreholes were collected between July 2014 and April 2015 for the study. The nozzle of each borehole was flamed with a lit cotton wool soaked in 98% alcohol for about 2 min to achieve sterility. The borehole water samples were aseptically collected from the source using sterilised glass bottles after pumping out water for about 2 min to flush out stagnant water in the pipes. All the water samples were collected into 500 ml sterilised plastic bottles. The bottles were sterilised by washing with 5% nitric acid, and then rinsing several times with distilled water. This was carried out to ensure that the sampling bottles were free from all forms of contaminants. The samples were then kept in an ice container and transferred to the water quality analysis laboratory at the Upper West regional office of the Ghana Water Company in Wa for analysis.

Physico-chemical analysis

The water temperature, pH, conductivity and total dissolved solids were measured at the point of sampling using handheld multipurpose meters (370 and 470 Jenway, Staffordshire, UK). The total alkalinity on the other hand was determined by titrating each water sample with 0.02 M H 2 SO 4 using methyl orange as the indicator (American Public Health Association 2005 ). Turbidity of each water sample was also determined using a turbidity meter (HANNA HI 93703, HANNA Instruments, TX, USA). Total iron concentration, total hardness and nitrate/nitrite concentration were determined using Aquachek ® Iron (Hach, USA), Aquachek ® Total Hardness (Hach, USA) and Aquachek ® Nitrate/Nitrite (Hach, USA) test strips respectively according to the manufacturer’s directions. Calcium ion concentration and calcium hardness were measured by ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid titrimetric method using powdered ammonium murixide as an indicator. The magnesium hardness was calculated by subtracting the value for the calcium hardness from the value for the total hardness. The magnesium ion concentration was then determined by multiplying the value of the magnesium hardness by a constant factor of 0.243 as suggested by American Public Health Association ( 2005 ). Chloride ion concentration was determined by titrating each sample against 14 mM silver nitrate solution using 1 ml of 5% potassium chromate as an indicator. Fluoride ion concentration was determined by employing the Spadn’s colorimetric method. UV/VIS spectrophotometer (DR 2400, Hach, Germany) was used to determine the ionic concentrations of arsenic, aluminium and ammonia. Standard solutions were prepared for each metal using suitable metals of each element to be determined. The required wavelength for each metal was used: arsenic at 193.7 nm, aluminium 584 nm and ammonia 425 nm.

Determination of total and faecal coliforms

The Most Probable Number (MPN) was used to determine the presence of faecal coliforms in the ground water samples. Five double strength MacConkey broth tubes containing inverted Durham tubes were inoculated with 10 ml of water sample; five single strength broth tubes were inoculated with 1 ml of the water; another set of five single strength broth tubes were inoculated with 0.1 ml of the same sample. After incubation for 48 h the number of tubes showing positive colour change, growth and gas production in each set was compared with the MPN index to determine the number of coliforms per 100 ml (American Public Health Association 2005 ). Furthermore, positive MacConkey broth tubes from the highest dilutions were inoculated into Eosin-Methylene blue agar, brilliant green lactose bile broth and gram stained to confirm the presence of faecal coliforms.

Ground water quality analysis

Seventeen (17) parameters were considered in calculating the WQI. As shown in Table  2 , each of the chemical parameters was assigned a weight (wi) based on its perceived effect on primary health or the relative importance of the chemicals in the overall quality of water for drinking purposes (Vasanthavigar et al. 2010 ). The highest weight of 5 was assigned to parameters that have major effects on water quality and their importance in quality and a minimum of 1 was assigned to parameters that were considered as not harmful to human health (Table  2 ).

The method used to determine the WQI was first proposed by Tiwari and Mishra ( 1985 ) and later modified by Dhakad et al. ( 2008 ) on groundwater samples which involves first calculating the quality of parameters, qi as presented in the equation below

where qi is the quality rating of each parameter for a total of n water samples, Va is the value of the water-quality parameter obtained from the laboratory analysis of the sample and Vs is the value of the water-quality parameter obtained from the WHO water-quality standard.

The relative weight W i was also calculated from the following equation:

Finally, the WQI was then determined by summing the product of the quality rating of each parameter and its relative weight.

The WQI obtained was afterwards used to determine the water quality of each sample according to Table  3 [prepared according to data from Vasanthavigar et al. ( 2010 )].

Results and discussion

The quality of drinking water is a major determinant of health for users. For this reason, periodic quality control measures are necessary. However, groundwater sources in many rural communities in Ghana lack regular quality control checks. This study was therefore aimed at evaluating borehole water quality in selected communities in northern Ghana, with a view to provide data that might be useful to policymakers and water service providers. It was identified through our physico-chemical and bacteriological quality analysis that most of the water samples were within the acceptable quality parameters recommended by the WHO. However, 14% of the samples tested positive for faecal contamination, emphasising the importance of regular quality assessment measures by the responsible agencies.

The physico-chemical parameters for all the water samples analysed were within the standards of the WHO except temperature, turbidity, true colour and magnesium ion concentration (WHO 2011 ). The pH of all the water samples were within the range of 6.14–7.50 indicating that the water was slightly acidic to neutral with a mean value of 6.87 ± 0.13. In fact, the geology of the sampling site could partly contribute to the final pH of the ground water. According to Pelig-Ba ( 1998 ), the geology around the aquifers of the study area is dominated by crystalline silicate rocks and regolith which impart acidity to the water. The pH values recorded in this study are similar to that of a previous study by Sebiawu et al. ( 2014 ) which reported an average pH of 6.57. However, our water pH data differed slightly from an investigation into physico-chemical properties of groundwater for irrigation purposes in the Upper West region conducted by Salifu et al. ( 2015 ), which reported a mean pH of 7.30. This slight pH variation can be explained by the difference in study sites used for the two studies. Yet, the closeness of the mean pH value reported herein to that reported by the two earlier studies suggests that groundwater in the study area is slightly acidic to neutral.

The value of electrical conductivity depends on the concentration, types of soluble ions as well as the temperature of the water (Hem 1985 ). In this study, the conductivity values ranged between 131 and 873 μS/cm (Table  4 ). The mean conductivity value for all samples analysed was 373.32 μS/cm with a standard deviation of 175.49 μS/cm (Table  4 ). It was observed that, the conductivity of the water samples was influenced by TDS (r = 0.99), Ca 2+ (r = 0.72) and total hardness (r = 0.56) (Table  6 ). Generally, groundwater in this study had low electrical conductivities, implying low mineral content and may therefore be referred to as fresh water.

Total dissolved solids (TDS) in drinking water has been associated with natural source, sewage, industrial wastewater, urban run-off and chemicals used in water treatment process (Environmental Protection Agency, Ghana 2002 ). High concentrations of TDS may confer undesirable taste, odour and colour on water, posing adverse reactions to the consumer (Spellman and Drinan 2012 ). The TDS in this study exhibited a wide variation with a minimum value of 80.1 mg/l and a maximum value of 524 mg/l (Table  4 ). All the TDS values were below the maximum allowable value of 1000 mg/l prescribed by the WHO ( 2011 ). Moreover, these results are similar to those obtained by Salifu et al. ( 2015 ) and Sebiawu et al. ( 2014 ) which showed that the average TDS of underground water in the Upper West and Northern regions averaged 200 mg/l.

High potable water temperature may impart undesirable taste and odour as well as the corrosive ability of the water (WHO 2011 ). This may also facilitate the growth of microorganisms, hence affecting water quality (WHO 2011 ). In this study, sample temperatures were between 28.8 and 32.8 °C (Table  4 ). These temperatures were all above the WHO maximum limit of 25 °C. This could be attributed to the environmental temperature as well as other climatic conditions prevailing in the study area at the time of sampling. Northern Ghana, due to its tropical savannah features, records higher temperatures compared to other parts of the country. Hence, the water temperatures recorded here may only highlight environmental characteristics without any suggestion for adverse effects on human health.

The true colour of all the water samples were within the acceptable limits prescribed by the WHO, except four samples whose appearance was above the maximum limit of 15 HU (Table  4 ). The water samples whose colours were outside the WHO standards were from Chabere, Guonoo, Nahaa and Suleteng communities. The water samples from these communities presented a milky colour which may be due to the presence of particulate matter arising from underground clay and other rock fragments surrounding the water source (WHO 2004 ). Flooding of areas around boreholes has also been found to deposit silt and clay into boreholes, thereby affecting the colour of borehole water (McMahon 2010 ). The colour of water samples from Chabere and Suleteng communities pointed to a possible contamination from surface water runoffs since water from these communities were also found to contain faecal coliforms. The mean true colour of the samples investigated was 11.46 ± 22.26 HU (Table  4 ).

Turbidity of the water samples showed wide variations ranging from 0.13 NTU to as high as 105 NTU (Table  4 ). The turbidity values of all the samples were within the maximum acceptable limits of the WHO standard except samples from Chabere, Gounoo, Nahaa and Suleteng whose turbidity were 17, 10, 29 and 105 NTU respectively. The milky nature of water from these communities may result from possible underground clay contamination.

Alkalinity is the acid neutralising ability of the water (United States Environmental Protection Agency 2012 ). Alkalinity of water is mainly caused by the presence of ions such as HCO 3 − , CO 3 2− or OH − in ground water (United States Environmental Protection Agency 2012 ). We identified that alkalinity of the water samples was fairly low and within the WHO standard (Table  4 ) with a mean value of 121.82 mg/l ± 48.73. The low alkalinity of the water samples in the study area may be connected to the geology of the area which is dominated by crystalline silicate rocks and weathered derivatives (regolith). These rocks have been identified to impart acidity to underground water (Obuobie and Boubacar 2010 ).

Total hardness is chemically expressed as the total concentration of Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ as milligram per liter equivalent of CaCO 3 (Nitsch et al. 2000 ). Physically, hardness could be referred to as the resistance of water to lather soap (Todd 2008 ). The total hardness values recorded ranged from 22 to 337.5 mg/l for all the samples analysed (Table  4 ). The total hardness measurements for all the samples were below the 500 mg/l recommended by the WHO for drinking water (Table  4 ), suggesting that they were all compliant with the WHO guideline and also safe for drinking.

The average calcium ion concentration for the borehole water samples was 22.11 mg/l providing a hardness of 55.28 mg/l (Table  4 ). Calcium ion (Ca 2+ ) can occur naturally in ground water through the dissolution of carbonate minerals and the decomposition of sulphate, phosphate and silicate minerals (Cobbina et al. 2012 ). The low concentrations of Ca 2+ observed in this study could be attributed to the absence of sulphate and phosphate containing rocks in the study area rather than pollutants (Nude and Arhin 2009 ).

The magnesium ion (Mg 2+ ) concentration in all samples was lower than the WHO standard of 50 mg/l for potable water (Table  4 ). The mean concentration of Mg 2+ was 29.84 ± 20.62 mg/l. The main sources of magnesium in the underground water sampled may be attributed to geological sources such as dolomite, biotite and pyroxenes (Fetter 2000 ) are abundant in the basement rocks of the sampled area (Key 1992 ). The Mg 2+ concentrations observed here are in agreement with previous reports by Cobbina et al. ( 2012 ), Sebiawu et al. ( 2014 ) and Salifu et al. ( 2015 ).

Ammonium as a form of nitrogen is also found in groundwater, primarily from the discharge of wastewater from sources such as septic systems and wastewater infiltration beds (Böhlke et al. 2006 ). Some of the water samples (24%) were found to contain ammonium ions although at low concentrations (mean = 0.01 ± 0.02 mg/l; Table  4 ) as compared to the WHO maximum acceptable limit of 1.5 mg/l, suggesting that drinking the borehole water analysed carried little risk of ammonia-related negative impacts on human health.

Excess chloride ions in water may not pose any health risk to consumers; however, high concentrations of chloride and sodium ions in water may interact to form sodium chloride which could impart a salty taste to the water (Cobbina et al. 2012 ). Chloride content (mean = 13.97 ± 6.36 mg/l) was lower than the maximum acceptable limit of 250 mg/l recommended by the WHO. Thus, the concentration of the chloride was considered satisfactory.

Nitrate and nitrite are the forms of nitrogen most commonly associated with groundwater contamination (Böhlke et al. 2006 ). Although the presence of nitrate does not pose any health threat to adults, ingestion by infants can cause low oxygen levels in the blood, a potentially fatal condition (Spalding and Exner 1993 ). For this reason, the WHO has established a drinking-water maximum allowable threshold of 10 mg/l nitrate as nitrogen (WHO 2011 ). All borehole samples analysed contained varying concentrations of nitrate ranging from 0.0 to 6 mg/l with mean and standard deviation of 2.09 and 1.33 mg/l, respectively (Table  4 ). This low concentration of nitrate observed in this study is in agreement with the findings of Mueller et al. ( 1995 ), which reported nitrate concentrations in underground water to be less than 2 mg/ml. The concentration of nitrate in the water samples was within the permissible range of 0.0–10.0 mg/l as recommended by the WHO for drinking water (Table  4 ). Also, the concentration of nitrite in the water samples varied between 0.0 and 2 mg/l with a mean value of 0.26 mg/l. Nitrite and nitrate concentrations of the samples of borehole water were within the permissible limits of 0.0–3.0 mg/l in line with WHO standards for drinking water (Table  4 ).

High concentration of iron in groundwater may not pose any health hazards but may not be patronised by consumers due to unpleasant odour and taste that is normally associated with underground water with higher iron concentrations (Gardner and Pelig-Ba 1995 ). Iron in groundwater may be derived from natural sources as well as steel pumps and casings (Sebiawu et al. 2014 ). The total iron concentration was between 0.0 and 0.25 mg/l with mean value of 0.06 ± 0.05 mg/l (Table  4 ). The total concentration of iron was within the range of 0.0–0.3 mg/l as per the WHO standard. Thus, the water from all the samples is considered satisfactory for human consumption. From our study, there was negative correlation between iron concentration and pH (r = −0.29) even though low pH may cause an increase in iron content derived from the rocks surrounding the aquifers (Pelig-Ba 1998 ).

All samples collected had no detectable concentrations of fluoride, aluminium and arsenic. Regions where the bedrock composition is dominated by granite tend to experience high fluoride concentration problems (Smedley et al. 1995 ). However, the results from our study showed no detectable concentrations of fluoride even though the geology of the study area is dominated by granite. Also, areas most likely to have elevated concentrations of aluminium are those where the ground waters are acidic, particularly from the Birimian province where this study was undertaken (Pelig-Ba 1998 ). The results, however showed negligible concentrations of aluminium. This finding suggests no immediate threat to the health of individuals in the study area who drink this water. These results corroborate that of Salifu et al. ( 2015 ) but contradict that of Cobbina et al. ( 2012 ) which found traces of arsenic (0.033 mg/l) and fluoride (2.9 mg/l) in ground water samples in the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba district of the Northern region of Ghana.

A wide range of microorganisms can be present in drinking water and it is often impossible to test for all of these microorganisms (WHO 2011 ). In order to monitor microbial quality of drinking water, certain indicator microorganisms can be measured to test for faecal pollution. Here, we used the MPN assay to test for the presence of common bacterial contaminants in the borehole water samples. Overall, 14% of groundwater samples tested exceeded the recommended 0.0 cfu/100 ml for coliforms by the WHO, indicating the presence of bacterial contaminants. The total number of coliforms ranged from 0.0 cfu/100 ml to more than 16 cfu/100 ml with a mean of 1.60 cfu/100 ml (Table  4 ). The presence of coliforms in these groundwater samples studied can be attributed to the absence of residual chlorine, an indication that the borehole water had not been chlorinated prior to sampling. Presence of coliforms in infected boreholes renders the water unwholesome, unless it is chlorinated. This is because excess coliforms may give an indication of the presence of other pathogens, which could cause waterborne diseases such as typhoid fever, hepatitis, gastroenteritis and dysentery (Lawson 2011 ).

The WQI datasets resulting from the 50 samples ranged from 10.81 to 55.87 and were categorised accordingly as being excellent water, good water, poor water and very poor water (Table  5 ). Majority of the water samples 49 (98%) were classified as “excellent water” whereas only 1 (2%) was classified as “good water”. None of the water samples had WQI within the categories of “poor water” and “very poor water”. Therefore, all the water samples without the presence of coliforms were considered suitable for human drinking. Since WQI is dependent on physico-chemical parameters, the values of WQI making the water suitable for drinking can be inferred from the acceptable concentration of parameters such as TDS, turbidity, conductivity, nitrates, nitrites, total hardness, calcium ions and magnesium ions. In order to evaluate potential correlations between the groundwater physico-chemical properties studied, the Spearman’s correlation co-efficient was used. Particularly, there were significant positive correlations between WQI and the physico-chemical parameters listed above, further confirming the relation between WQI and these parameters (Table  6 ).

From a water quality point of view, most of the data for the physico-chemical parameters indicated tolerable quality. Bacteriological quality of a few of the water samples analysed in this study did not meet the standard requirements set for drinking water by the WHO. Thus, the heavy reliance on borehole water in the study area calls for constant monitoring and design of regular purification strategies by government agencies concerned to ensure good water quality.

Abbreviations

total dissolved solids

water quality index

World Health Organization

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Authors’ contributions

SBBMS conceived the study and led the study design. SBBMS, SAF and GES conducted the study. SBBMS and TKK analysed the data. SBBMS and TKK wrote the paper. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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The authors are thankful to the laboratory staff at the Ghana Water Company, Wa, especially Jonathan Kwofie for analysing the water samples.

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Saana, S.B.B.M., Fosu, S.A., Sebiawu, G.E. et al. Assessment of the quality of groundwater for drinking purposes in the Upper West and Northern regions of Ghana. SpringerPlus 5 , 2001 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40064-016-3676-1

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Groundwater is a key part of Earth’s water cycle . Rain and melted snow seep down into the ground. There, the water can stay for thousands of years. Some groundwater naturally leaks out onto Earth’s surface through springs. It also feeds into lakes, rivers and wetlands. People extract groundwater through wells for drinking, sanitation, watering crops and other uses.

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Many of the world’s aquifers already seem to be drying up . Twenty-one of Earth’s 37 biggest aquifers are shrinking, satellite data show. The most dried-out aquifers are near big cities, farms or arid regions. As groundwater stores dwindle, they hold less water to refill rivers and streams, threatening freshwater ecosystems . In California, sucking the ground dry may even be triggering small earthquakes .

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Marsquakes could reveal whether liquid water exists underground on red planet

by Matthew Carroll, Pennsylvania State University

If liquid water exists today on Mars, it may be too deep underground to detect with traditional methods used on Earth. But listening to earthquakes that occur on Mars—or marsquakes—could offer a new tool in the search, according to a team led by Penn State scientists.

When quakes rumble and move through aquifers deep underground, they produce electromagnetic signals. The researchers reported in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets how those signals, if also produced on Mars, could identify water miles under the surface.

The study may lay the groundwork for future analyses of data from Mars missions, according to Nolan Roth, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Geosciences at Penn State and lead author.

"The scientific community has theories that Mars used to have oceans and that, over the course of its history, all that water went away," Nolan said. "But there is evidence that some water is trapped somewhere in the subsurface. We just haven't been able to find it. The idea is, if we can find these electromagnetic signals , then we find water on Mars."

If scientists want to find water on Earth, they can use tools like ground-penetrating radar to map the subsurface. But this technology is not effective miles under the surface, depths where water may be on Mars, the scientists said.

Instead, the researchers recommend a novel application of the seismoelectric method, a newer technique developed to non-invasively characterize Earth's subsurface. When seismic waves from an earthquake move through an aquifer underground, differences in how rocks and water move produce electromagnetic fields.

These signals, which can be heard by sensors on the surface, can reveal information about aquifer depth, volume, location and chemical compositions, according to the researchers.

"If we listen to the marsquakes that are moving through the subsurface, if they pass through water, they'll create these wonderful, unique signals of electromagnetic fields," Roth said. "These signals would be diagnostic of current, modern-day water on Mars."

On water-rich Earth, using this method to identify active aquifers is challenging because water exists in the subsurface even outside of aquifers, creating other electric signals as seismic waves move through the ground. This background noise must be separated from the aquifers' signals, the scientists said, for accurate identification and characterization.

"On Mars, where the near-surface is certainly desiccated, no such separation is needed," said Tieyuan Zhu, associate professor of geosciences at Penn State and Roth's adviser and co-author.

"In contrast to how seismoelectric signals often appear on Earth, Mars' surface naturally removes the noise and exposes useful data that allows us to characterize several aquifer properties."

The researchers created a model of the Martian subsurface and added aquifers to simulate how the seismoelectric method would perform. They found they could successfully use the technique to analyze details about the aquifers, including how thick or thin they are and their physical and chemical properties, like salinity.

"If we can understand the signals, we can go back and characterize the aquifers themselves," Roth said. "And that would give us more constraints than we've ever had before for understanding water on Mars today and how it has changed over the last 4 billion years. And that would be a big step ahead."

Roth said future work will—surprisingly—involve analyzing data already collected on Mars.

NASA's Insight lander, launched in 2018, delivered a seismometer to Mars that has been listening to marsquakes and mapping the subsurface. But seismometers have difficulty distinguishing water from gas or less dense rock.

However, the mission also included a magnetometer as a diagnostic tool to help the seismometer. Combing data from the magnetometer and the seismometer could reveal seismoelectric signals, the scientists said.

Sending a dedicated magnetometer meant to conduct scientific experiments on future NASA missions could potentially produce even better results, the researchers said.

"This shouldn't be limited to Mars—the technique has potential, for example, to measure the thickness of icy oceans on a moon of Jupiter," Zhu said. "The message we want to give the community is there is this promising physical phenomena—which received less attention in the past—that may have great potential for planetary geophysics."

Yongxin Gao, professor at Hefei University of Technology in China, also contributed.

Journal information: Journal of Geophysical Research

Provided by Pennsylvania State University

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Geophysics for USGS Groundwater/Surface Water Exchange Studies

• Publications

Locating and quantifying exchanges of groundwater and surface water, along with characterizing geologic structure, is essential to water-resource managers and hydrologists for the development of effective water-resource policy, protection, and management. The USGS conducts applied research to evaluate the use of new or emerging hydrogeophysical tools and methods to improve our understanding of groundwater/surface-water exchange.

Understanding exchanges of groundwater and surface water is essential to water managers and hydrologists for the development of effective water-resources policy, protection, and management. Surface water (including streams, lakes, wetlands, and estuaries) “gains” groundwater discharge via seeps and springs, while surface water also infiltrates into adjacent groundwater under “losing” hydraulic conditions. Groundwater discharge is the main component of stream baseflow, or the channel water flowing in between storm events and snowmelt. Many streams, lakes, and wetlands are primarily sourced by groundwater discharge during dry conditions, while coastal water quality can be strongly influenced by submarine groundwater discharge. Groundwater recharge occurs when surface water is exchanged into aquifers below, impacting groundwater chemistry and water supply. The sediment interface between groundwater and surface water, such as a streambed, is often highly reactive due to diverse chemical and microbial conditions, further modifying water quality over short transport distances (e.g., centimeters).

Physical methods of monitoring groundwater/surface-water exchange are often labor intensive and limited in spatial scale. The effects of groundwater/surface-water exchange can occur on a variety of time scales and distances. The dynamics of groundwater/surface water exchange at the stream reach to regional scale are often characterized based on measurements made at a few individual points, though such extrapolation can be highly uncertain do to inherent spatial and temporal variability. The hydrogeophysics toolkit produces data that span scales and helps put point-based measurements into hydrogeological context, often leading to improved understanding of groundwater/surface water exchange processes and associated management concerns.

Using Geophysics to Study Groundwater/Surface-Water Exchange

The USGS Water Resources Mission Area conducts applied research to evaluate the use of new or emerging hydrogeophysical tools and methods to improve our understanding of groundwater/surface-water exchange. Geophysical methods based on measuring the electrical, thermal, and (or) physical properties of surface water, groundwater, and the shallow subsurface can enable scientists to efficiently locate and quantify groundwater and surface-water related processes. Such spatially comprehensive and spatially distributed information can tie point measurements to larger geologic structures controlling flow and transport at local and regional scales. Similar data types collected over time (i.e., time-lapse data) allow researchers to track highly dynamic processes such as the movement of contaminant plumes, soil moisture, and saltwater intrusion. As a result, we are better able to understand and forecast movement of water between groundwater and surface-water bodies and associated changes in water quality and quantity.

USGS has been a leader in advancing the use of hydrogeophysics to study groundwater/surface-water exchange for decades via methods and software development and pioneering research. Current efforts continue to foster innovation and development of hydrogeophysical technologies and methodologies to answer important questions about our water resources. This work is also part of the USGS Next Generation Water Observing Systems state-of-the-art monitoring technology and methods to increase the spatial and temporal coverage of USGS water data and to make data more affordable and more rapidly available. The USGS Water Resources Mission Area recently released a groundwater/surface water exchange related methods selection tool to aid in the discovery of complimentary tools that may be well suited for specific applications, and to increase the general awareness of the diverse existing toolkit. 

USGS Water Resources Mission Area science pages related to Geophysics for Groundwater/Surface Water Exchange Studies

Groundwater/Surface-Water Interaction

Thermal Imaging Cameras for Studying Groundwater/Surface-Water Exchange

What does groundwater have to do with ice in Alaska?

Fiber-Optic Distributed Temperature Sensing Technology for Surface-Water and Groundwater Studies

Thermal Imaging Camera Use: Identifying Groundwater Inputs to a Reef in American Samoa

Fiber-Optic Distributed Temperature Sensing in Waquoit Bay, Massachusetts

Selected USGS data releases related to Geophysics for Groundwater/Surface Water Exchange Studies

Thermal infrared images of groundwater discharge zones in the Farmington and Housatonic River watersheds (Connecticut and Massachusetts, 2019)(ver. 3.0, January 2023)

Stream temperature, dissolved radon, and stable water isotope data collected along headwater streams in the upper neversink river watershed, ny, usa (ver. 2.0, april 2023), waterborne gradient self-potential, temperature, and conductivity logging of the upper part of the delaware river between hancock and port jervis, new york, june-july 2021, passive seismic data collected along headwater stream corridors in shenandoah national park in 2016 - 2020, depth to bedrock determined from passive seismic measurements, neversink river watershed, ny (usa), delaware river near wilmington floating electromagnetic surveys from august 2020, temperature and geophysical data collected along the quashnet river, mashpee/falmouth ma (ver. 2.0, march 2020), hydrogeochemical data for the characterization of stream, groundwater, and beaver-induced floodplain exchange in the east river science focus area, crested butte, co, thermal infrared, multispectral, and photogrammetric data collected by drone for hydrogeologic analysis of the east river and coal creek beaver-impacted corridors near crested butte, colorado.

Selected USGS publications related to Geophysics for Groundwater/Surface Water Exchange Studies

Exploring local riverbank sediment controls on the occurrence of preferential groundwater discharge points

Investigation of scale-dependent groundwater/surface-water exchange in rivers by gradient self-potential logging: numerical modeling and field experiments, evaluation of riverbed magnetic susceptibility for mapping biogeochemical hot spots in groundwater-impacted rivers, continental-scale analysis of shallow and deep groundwater contributions to streams.

Groundwater discharge generates streamflow and influences stream thermal regimes. However, the water quality and thermal buffering capacity of groundwater depends on the aquifer source-depth. Here, we pair multi-year air and stream temperature signals to categorize 1729 sites across the continental United States as having major dam influence, shallow or deep groundwater signatures, or lack of pron

Using heat to trace vertical water fluxes in sediment experiencing concurrent tidal pumping and groundwater discharge

Geochemical and geophysical indicators of oil and gas wastewater can trace potential exposure pathways following releases to surface waters, groundwater discharges as a source of phytoestrogens and other agriculturally derived contaminants to streams, improved prediction of management-relevant groundwater discharge characteristics throughout river networks, characterizing the diverse hydrogeology underlying rivers and estuaries using new floating transient electromagnetic methodology, hillslope groundwater discharges provide localized ecosystem buffers from regional pfas contamination in a gaining coastal stream.

Emerging groundwater contaminants such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) may impact surface-water quality and groundwater-dependent ecosystems of gaining streams. Although complex near-surface hydrogeology of stream corridors challenges sampling efforts, recent advances in heat tracing of discharge zones enable efficient and informed data collection. For this study we used a combinatio

Seasonal subsurface thaw dynamics of an aufeis feature inferred from geophysical methods

Evaluation of stream and wetlands restoration using uas-based thermal infrared mapping.

USGS software related to Geophysics for USGS Groundwater/Surface Water Exchange Studies

GW/SW-MST: A Groundwater/Surface-Water Method Selection Tool

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Wang, Y.; Liu, F.; Kou, M.; Li, M. A Review of Stability of Dam Structures in Coal Mine Underground Reservoirs. Water 2024 , 16 , 1856. https://doi.org/10.3390/w16131856

Wang Y, Liu F, Kou M, Li M. A Review of Stability of Dam Structures in Coal Mine Underground Reservoirs. Water . 2024; 16(13):1856. https://doi.org/10.3390/w16131856

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• Published: 21 June 2024

Earth interior

Deep mantle water prefers slabs

• Frédéric Deschamps   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5110-2320 1  

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The fate of water carried by subducted slabs to the deep Earth remains unclear. Experiments suggest that water is unlikely to escape the slabs when they reach the core–mantle boundary despite high pressures and temperatures.

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