Effects of historic changes in regional drainage characteristics on the drawdown of groundwater abstractions

“Calculating the drawdown of groundwater abstractions for drinking water is usually done considering the current land use and regional drainage characteristics. However, many drinking water abstractions already exist for several decades and abstracted volumes have increased over time. In the Netherlands, especially in the more elevated parts of the country, the drainage characteristics were also significantly altered to prevent water logging and to optimize the water management for agricultural use, often after establishment of the groundwater abstraction site. These changes were intended to lower the phreatic groundwater levels to prevent waterlogging, but unintendedly also made the regions more vulnerable to drought. The question is whether groundwater abstractions for groundwater would have a similar impact in the former historic hydrological context and whether restoring the system to this state would ameliorate current drought problems.”

(Citation: van Huijgevoort, M., Cirkel, G., and Bartholomeus, R.: Effects of historic changes in regional drainage characteristics on the drawdown of groundwater abstractions, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-2333, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-2333, 2022)