ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines some potential environmental impacts that can result from groundwater control, the conditions in which they may occur and possible mitigation measures. Groundwater control operations, whether using pumping or exclusion methods, have the potential to cause adverse impacts on the groundwater environment. Abstraction or pumping of groundwater is a natural part of most groundwater control systems. Groundwater is typically pumped on a temporary basis. Ground settlements are an inevitable consequence of every groundwater lowering exercise. In the great majority of cases, the settlements are so small that distortion or damage is apparent in nearby buildings. Settlement can also occur if a groundwater lowering system continually pumps ‘fines’ in the discharge water – a problem known as ‘loss of fines’. Lowering of groundwater levels will naturally reduce pore water pressures and hence increase effective stress. Pumping from fully penetrating wells in a confined aquifer causes horizontal groundwater flow in the aquifer.
