Stream depletion rate with horizontal or slanted wells in confined aquifers near a stream

Abstract

Pumping in a vertical well may produce a large drawdown cone near the well. In this paper, the solution is first developed for describing the groundwater flow associated with a point source in a confined aquifer near a stream. Based on the principle of superposition, analytical solutions for horizontal and slanted wells are then developed by integrating the point source solution along the well axis. The solutions can be simplified to quasi-steady solutions by neglecting the exponential terms to describe the late-time drawdown, which can provide useful information in designing horizontal well location and length. The direction of the well axis can be determined from the best SDR subject to the drawdown constraint. It is found that hydraulic conductivity in the direction perpendicular to the stream plays a crucial role in influencing the time required for reaching quasi-steady SDR. In addition, the effects of the well length as well as the distance between the well and stream on the SDR are also examined. © Author(s) 2010.