ROLE OF SALINITY IN PRECIPITATION AND WELL WATER DEPTH RELATIONSHIP

Abstract

Excessive groundwater pumping can decrease the amount of fresh water flowing towards the coastal discharge areas, allowing salt water to be drawn into the fresh water zones of coastal aquifers. This process gets complicated with the frequent change behavior of groundwater levels in observation wells. The fluctuation happens due to various reasons but can be directly correlated with the precipitation patterns. We hypothesized that the salinity of water adds to the complexity and affects the causal relationship between precipitation and well water depth. Relevant data (precipitation, well water depth and water salinity) were collected for analysis from a monitoring site located in North Carolina. Analytical study of mean monthly data identified the lack of a strong correlation between the water table depth and precipitation. Moreover, the salinity was found to be slightly correlated with precipitation. A significant correlation was expected between the precipitation and well water depth and salinity should have been more closely related to the precipitation. The lack of correlation is mainly attributed to the lack of available daily data, especially in the case of salinity.