Groundwater Deterioration Caused by Induced Recharge: Field Survey and Verification of the Deterioration Mechanism by Stochastic Numerical Simulation

Our field survey showed that thequality of shallow groundwater around the KatsuraRiver in the Kyoto Basin was strongly affected by theinfiltration of river water. Furthermore, that thedeterioration of the groundwater in the southern areato the west of the Katsura River may be related to theincrease in groundwater extraction. To clarify themechanism of groundwater deterioration, we havedeveloped a stochastic method to simulate groundwaterflow. The results showed that there was a largereduction in the groundwater level where groundwaterextraction was intense and recharge flowed from theKatsura River to the high extraction areas in thesouthern region. Another simulation showed that if thegroundwater extraction was 10% of the present removalrate, there would be little recharge from the KatsuraRiver into the groundwater and the quality of thegroundwater would be improved. Thus, we conclude thatthe cause of groundwater deterioration is probably dueto the induced recharge of deteriorated river waterfrom the Katsura River.