Solution to Exercise 13
13) Draw and clearly label a cross section of a water table aquifer overlying a confined aquifer. Label the confining units as aquitards. Place two observation wells in each aquifer and show the water level in each of the wells so that groundwater flow is from the left to the right for the water table aquifer and from the right to the left for the confined aquifer. The illustration should suggest that leakage from the confined aquifer is upward into the unconfined aquifer. Show the corresponding water table and potentiometric surface positions.
This diagram meets the criteria set out in the problem. The flow in the unconfined aquifer is left to right and right to left in the confined system. The water table and potentiometric surface are labelled. The potentiometric surface is drawn higher than the water table suggesting the potential for upward flow of water from the confined aquifer to the unconfined system.