5. Hydraulic Barrier
In 2004, a groundwater exploration study was completed for SaskWater by BHL. Pumping tests were conducted on the SaskWater (SWC 3) production well referred to as BHL 2004-04PW3 and water level measurements were taken from neighboring wells. The drawdown was observed in the well 2004-03 next to SWC 3, however there was no effect of pumping on the 2004-05 Zehner well and the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority’s (WSA) Pilot Butte South (Z) well. The lack of continuous hydraulic response from the pumping test analysis suggests the aquifer is discontinuous separated by a low hydraulic conductivity barrier (Lo, 2010). The spatial extent and distribution of the discontinuity within the Zehner aquifer is unknown and additional studies are required to evaluate the impact of the hydraulic barrier on the water levels within the Zehner aquifer. The Regina East Science and Monitoring plan (Lo, 2010) was initiated to revise the water balance and refine the allocation limits within the Zehner aquifer knowing its compartmentalized nature due to inferred hydraulic discontinuities. The division of the Zehner aquifer into zones in this study is based on the BHL, (2004) pumping test and the water level analysis stated in the next section.
Figure 4: Inferred spatial extent of the hydraulic barriers within the Zehner aquifer (Lo, et al., 2014).