GC003-0004
Human Imprint of Water Withdrawals in the Wet Environment: A Case Study of Declining Groundwater in Georgia, USA

Monday, 7 December 2020
Poster
Sanjiv Kumar, Auburn University, School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, Auburn, AL, United States, Collin Sutton, Jacobs Engineering, Hydrogeologist, Atlanta, GA, United States, Ming-Kuo Lee, Auburn University, Department of Geosciences, Auburn, AL, United States and Eian Davis, Auburn University, Geospatial and Environmental Informatics Program, School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, Auburn, AL, United States
Abstract:
The 'water-rich' southeastern US has long been thought to be immune to climate change effects, leading to unsustainable water withdrawals practices. This study analyzed the impact of climate change and human activities (i.e., irrigation) on groundwater levels at 43 monitoring wells from 1981-2017 in four distinct geologic provinces of Georgia, USA. We have corroborated the groundwater trend analysis with the surface water and climate trend analysis. The deep confined Coastal Plain and Floridan aquifer systems found to be decoupled from climate influences and show statistically significant declines in water level. By contrast, the Surficial aquifer system shows relatively neutral trends over the same period. The water table in the shallower aquifers corresponds closely to the changes in the precipitation and streamflow trends. A declining secular trend in the deeper confined aquifer is potentially attributable to the irrigation water withdrawals in Georgia.
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