Changes in groundwater storage, Kamienna drainage basin, southeastern Poland

Abstract

Water-table levels in the Kamienna River drainage basin, SE Poland, are presently measured at 14 observation points within the groundwater observation-research network of the Polish Geological Institute – National Research Institute, included in the monitoring programme during the period 1979–2007. They exhibit multi-year changes in groundwater storage near the observation points. The best documented cycle is that for the period 1982–2002, observed in the wells monitoring water in fractured-karstic formations, where the amplitude of the water-table level was 45 m at that time. The retention balance in the cycle was negative. At the beginning of the cycle, the water table in the fractured-karstic aquifers was 1.40 to 1.94 m higher than at the end. Further observations of the multi-year changes in retention will be the basis for possible corrections to calculations of groundwater resources in this drainage basin, as well as for model predictions of resources, performed for water management in connection with potential climate change.