Combined estimation of specific yield and natural recharge in a semi-arid groundwater basin with irrigated agriculture

A water budget approach is developed to jointly estimate specific yield and natural recharge in an unconfined aquifer with significant seasonal water table fluctuations. Water table fluctuations are due to distinct seasonality in groundwater recharge. The separation of the hydrologic year into two (or more) extended seasons of recharge (wet season) and no-recharge (dry season) with accompanying changes in water table allows for a split use of the water table fluctuation (WTF) method, first to estimate specific yield from the water table drop during the dry season (no recharge) and, second, to estimate recharge from the water table rise during the wet season, after considering all other water budget components explicitly. The latter includes explicit computation of groundwater storage with the WTF method. The application of the WTF method requires a large number of water level measurements throughout the unconfined aquifer before and after each season. The advantage of the method is that specific yield and recharge are estimated at the scale of interest to basin hydrologic studies and that the method requires no extensive in situ instrumentation network. Here, the method is demonstrated through a case study in a fractured hard-rock aquifer subject to intensive groundwater pumping for irrigation purposes.