Using A Quarry Pump Test to Determine Aquifer Properties, Calculate Water Budgets, and Assess Good Field Practices

Amy Sheldon

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Initial Publication Date: June 29, 2005 | Reviewed: June 8, 2013 (see revision history: 3 events)

Summary

The exercise provides an opportunity to discuss pump test methods and perform a "worst-case" mass balance of the water pumped by including rainfall as an input.

Aquifer properties | College Lower (13-14), College Upper (15-16), Graduate/Professional

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Context

Audience

I use this in an undergraduate hydrogeology course for majors. However, it could be used in a graduate level course.

Skills and concepts that students must have mastered

Students should have background understanding of recharge and discharge zones, types of aquifers and aquifer properties (T, S, K), how pump tests are performed and aquifer properties determined, and how to set up mass balance equations.

How the activity is situated in the course

This exercise follows a textbook assignment on pump tests.

Goals

Content/concepts goals for this activity

The content/concept goals for this assignment include pump tests and fluid flow in fractured media.

Higher order thinking skills goals for this activity

This exercise asks students to synthesize several ideas in order to evaluate the method employed and conclusions drawn.

Other skills goals for this activity

Other skills goals include setting up and solving simple mass balance equations. Because the questions are used for class discussion, students need to be able to express their answers and the reasoning behind them.

Description of the activity/assignment

In an out-of-class assignment, students receive background information for the site and the pump test performed, including the aquifer properties determined. Through a series of questions, students are asked to evaluate the pump test method, results, interpretations made by the consultant that performed the test, and the significance of a rain event that occurred during the test.

Determining whether students have met the goals

Student performance is evaluated based on: a.) how accurately they setup and performed the calculations, b.) the accuracy of their responses to interpretation questions, and c.) the extent to which their answers to more challenging interpretation and/or open-ended questions considers all aspects of the problem in question and does so correctly.

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