Tagging and Tracking Pumping Influence Provides Critical New Insight Across Monitoring Networks

Removing the influence of pumping from groundwater-level data sets, manually or algorithmically, is cumbersome, error prone, and limits network data density. Conversely, water use and pumping from production wells may be a previously undocumented, but critical influence on real groundwater-level change across a network. A new method for tracking and tagging the influence of pumping on groundwater-level measurements supports accurate and more efficient interpretation of how pumping influences groundwater levels across a monitoring network. Using a simple current transducer to track pumping activity, a groundwater-level system is able to assign tags to capture the situation of the well and pump at the time of the reading. A “Timed” sensor reading tag reflects the absence of pumping, “Pump Influence” is a timed reading taken when the pump is running or within the recovery period. If pumping specific duty is necessary, or useful, tags can be applied to groundwater-level readings that reflect pumping drawdown and well recovery for each pumping event. With each groundwater-level reading tagged either Timed, Pump Influenced, Pump Start, Pump Stop, or Well Recovery, the identification of static and pumping influenced groundwater-levels becomes simple and error free. When tagged measurements from multiple wells are integrated across a monitoring network, the influence of multiple pumping wells on an aquifer can be isolated from the broader influences of weather, seasons, and climate, providing vital insight into background and man-made changes to the groundwater resource supporting fact-based sustainable management strategies.