Understanding groundwater recharge is essential for successful management of water resources and modeling fluid and contaminant transport within the subsurface. This book provides a critical evaluation of the theory and assumptions that underlie methods for estimating rates of groundwater recharge. Detailed explanations of the methods are provided - allowing readers to apply many of the techniques themselves without needing to consult additional references. Numerous practical examples highlight benefits and limitations of each method. Approximately 900 references allow advanced practitioners to pursue additional information on any method. For the first time, theoretical and practical considerations for selecting and applying methods for estimating groundwater recharge are covered in a single volume with uniform presentation. Hydrogeologists, water-resource specialists, civil and agricultural engineers, earth and environmental scientists and agronomists will benefit from this informative and practical book. It can serve as the primary text for a graduate-level course on groundwater recharge or as an adjunct text for courses on groundwater hydrology or hydrogeology. For the benefit of students and instructors, problem sets of varying difficulty are available at http://wwwbrr.cr.usgs.gov/projects/GW_Unsat/Recharge_Book/.

Hydrology covers the fundamentals of hydrology and hydrogeology, taking an environmental slant dictated by the emphasis in recent times for the remediation of contaminated aquifers and surface-water bodies as well as a demand for new designs that impose the least negative impact on the natural environment. Major topics covered include hydrological principles, groundwater flow, groundwater contamination and clean-up, groundwater applications to civil engineering, well hydraulics, and surface water. Additional topics addressed include flood analysis, flood control, and both ground-water and surface-water applications to civil engineering design.

... The description of the aquifer includes areal extent, saturated thickness, hydrologic properties, water table configuration, direction of groundwater flow, water budget and 1985 withdraws; also includes simulated potential effects of hypothetical groundwater development alternatives; one map shows water table contours superimposed on geologic survey topographic map while the other map shows the altitude of bedrock surface in the area ...