APPLIED HYDROGEOLOGY

By N. ELVAY

1 WATER 2 ELEMENTS OF THE HYDROLOGIC CYCLE 3 PROPERTIES OF AQUIFERS 4 PRINCIPLES OF GROUND-WATER FLOW 5 GROUND-WATER FLOW TO WELLS 6 SOIL MOISTURE AND GROUND-WATER RECHARGE 7 REGIONAL GROUND-WATER FLOW 8 GEOLOGY OF GROUND-WATER OCCURRENCE 9 WATER CHEMISTRY 10 WATER QUALITY AND GROUND-WATER CONTAMINATION 11 GROUND-WATER DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT 12 GROUND-WATER MODELS REFERENCES CONTENTS WATER IN THE WINTER OF WET YEARS THE STREAMS RAN FULL-FRESHET, AND THEY SWELLED THE RIVER UNTIL IT SOMETIMES RAGED AND BOILED BANK FULL, AND THEN IT WAS A DESTROYER THE RIVER TORE THE EDGES OF THE FARM LANDS AND WASHED WHOLE ACRES DOWN; IT TOPPLED BARNS AND HOUSES INTO ITSELF, TO GO FLOATING AND BOBBING AWAY IT TRAPPED COWS AND PIGS AND SHEEP AND DROWNED THEM IN ITS MUDDY BROWN WATER AND CARRIED THEM TO THE SEA THEN WHEN THE LATE SPRING CAME THE RIVER DREW IN FROM ITS EDGES AND THE SAND BANKS APPEARED AND IN THE SUMMER THE RIVER DIDN’T AT ALL RUN ABOVE GROUND THERE WERE DRY YEARS TOO THE WATER CAME IN A THIRTY-YEAR CYCLE THERE WOULD BE FIVE OR SIX WET AND WONDERFUL YEARS WHEN THERE MIGHT BE NINETEEN TO TWENTY-FIVE INCHES OF RAIN, AND THE LAND WOULD SHOUT WITH GRASS THEN WOULD COME SIX OR SEVEN PRETTY GOOD YEARS OF TWELVE TO SIXTEEN INCHES OF RAIN AND THEN THE DRY YEARS WOULD COME, AND SOMETIMES THERE WOULD BE ONLY SEVEN OR EIGHT INCHES OF RAIN THE LAND DRIED UP AND IT NEVER FAILED THAT DURING THE DRY YEARS THE PEOPLE FORGOT THE RICH YEARS, AND DURING THE WET YEARS THEY LOST ALL MEMORY OF THE DRY YEARS IT WAS ALWAYS THAT WAY EAST OF EDEN, JOHN STEINBECK, WATER J OHN STEINBECK WROTE THE ABOVE WORDS 50 YEARS AGO TO DESCRIBE THE HY- DROLOGY OF THE SALINAS VALLEY IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA IN DOING SO HE RE- VEALED AN ATTITUDE TOWARD WATER THAT WAS HELD BY MANY IN THE EARLY PART OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY WATER WAS ALWAYS ASSUMED TO BE AVAILABLE AND NO ONE WORRIED ABOUT ITS LONGEVITY UNTIL IT SEEMED THREATENED WE PERHAPS HAVE A MORE REALISTIC ATTITUDE TODAY AND KNOW THAT WE MUST PRESERVE AND PROTECT OUR PRECIOUS AND LIMITED NATURAL RESOURCES, INCLUDING WATER ALTHOUGH OUR INTENTIONS TOWARD PRESERVING THE ENVIRONMENT MAY BE GOOD, WE SOMETIMES ACT WITHOUT FULL CONSIDERATION OF ALL POSSIBLE